Looking to polish off a sweep of UMass Lowell on Saturday, the University of Maine baseball team didn’t waste any time putting the River Hawks away.
The Black Bears jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings and cruised from there to an 8-4 America East victory at Mahaney Diamond in Orono.
The victory moves UMaine to 20-24 overall and 7-10 in conference play while the River Hawks fell to 22-26 and 10-13, respectively.
The early cushion was plenty for junior right-hander Jonah Normandeau of Cumberland, who went six strong innings to pick up the victory. He allowed two runs on only two hits while walking two and striking out one.
Christopher Bec plated UMaine’s first run with a first-inning double, then the Black Bears put together a five-run uprising in the second.
Tyler Schwanz had the big blow of the frame with a three-run home run, while Lou Della Ferra knocked in the other two runs with a single.
UMass Lowell got two runs back in the third, but the Black Bears were never seriously threatened.
UMaine scored a single run in the fifth and got another in the eighth.
Three different Black Bears — Schwanz, Della Ferra and Bec — recorded multi-hit games.
All three of Schwanz’s RBIs came on his homer while Della Ferra’s resulted from his second-inning base hit.
Steve Passatempo, Michael Young and John Polichetti each drove in a run for the River Hawks. Doubles by Young, Passatempo and Russ Olive were UML’s lone extra-base hits of the contest.
The Black Bears are back in action against Boston College on Wednesday before hosting Albany next weekend to close out the regular season.
