The University of Maine baseball team picked up a pair of crucial America East victories Friday afternoon, including one in dramatic fashion.
The Black Bears used a seventh-inning rally powered by Jeremy Pena to defeat UMass Lowell 5-4 in the second game of the twin bill at Mahaney Diamond in Orono.
Pena drove in the tying run with a single and later scored on a wild pitch to end it.
UMaine won the first game, 7-5, and the Black Bears are now 18-25 overall and 5-10 in America East.
The River Hawks fell to 22-25 and 10-12.
In Friday’s first game, Jeff Gelinas and Connor Johnson combined to hold the River Hawks scoreless and hitless over the final four innings as the Bears rallied for the victory.
Johnson worked three innings and picked up the victory, striking out two and walking nobody.
Gelinas pitched around a ninth-inning walk to close out UML.
The Black Bears scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to erase a one-run (5-4) deficit and forge ahead for good. Brandon Vicens knocked in what proved to be the game-winning runs with a two-run single to left-center field.
Cody Pasic worked a bases-loaded walk to provide UMaine with some insurance.
The Bears jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings, with Pena leading off UMaine’s day with a first inning solo home run and Caleb Kerbs knocked in two more with a second-inning single.
UMass Lowell got one back in the third and chased starter Justin Courtney with a four-run sixth inning, with Russ Olive’s two-run triple being the big blow.
Gelinas’ ninth-inning walk was Lowell’s lone baserunner after its four-run sixth.
The second game was a back-and-forth affair that saw Pena again lead off the Black Bears first with a home run.
The River Hawks got one back in the second on a Nick Barry ground ball to third base.
Both clubs scored single runs in the fifth before UMass Lowell broke through for two in the sixth to claim its first lead of the contest.
Steve Passatempo drove in both of those runs with a two-run home run to left field.
With Maine down to its last two outs in the seventh, Pena knocked in Kerbs, who had singled, with an opposite-field single to right.
Kerbs had advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt before Pena knocked him in.
Collin Ridley nearly ended it one batter later with a deep double to the right-field fence.
After Christopher Bec was intentionally walked to load the bases, Pena scampered home on a wild pitch to give the Bears the victory.
The teams will play a single game on Saturday at 4 p.m.
