ORONO, Maine — The first inning was the charm for the University of Maine baseball team in its three-game America East weekend sweep of Albany at Mahaney Diamond.
The Black Bears scored 11 first-inning runs, including four on Sunday, and they went on to sweep the Great Danes.
UMaine’s 17-1 victory on a blustery Easter Sunday followed 10-2 and 4-1 wins on Saturday afternoon as the Black Bears improved to 8-19 overall, 4-2 in America East.
Albany (9-11, 1-5 AE)had its losing streak extended to five games.
“We practiced all week to be really aggressive and come out swinging the bats … getting ahead in advantage counts and taking advantage of mistakes from opposing pitchers. We took care of that,” said UMaine senior catcher Chris Bec, who paced Sunday’s 18-hit attack with five hits, including two home runs, and four runs batted in.
“Getting out on top early is very important for our success,” said sophomore right fielder Hernen Sardinas, whose two-run double keyed the first-inning rally. “It obviously helps out a lot and builds our confidence going forward.”
Jeremy Pena led off the first inning with an infield hit and Danny Casals drove him in with a slicing opposite-field double inside the right-field line.
Bec legged out an infield single into the shortstop hole and both scored when Sardinas turned on right-hander John Claytons’s 3-2 fastball and rifled it into the gap in right-center for a double.
“He tried to come inside on me with a fastball and I was ready for it,” said Sardinas.
After Brandon Vicens was hit in the back of the neck by a Clayton pitch and a fielder’s choice by Kevin Doody, Sardinas scored from third before Doody was tagged out in a rundown between first and second after getting picked off.
Vicens left after the first inning but said after the game that he felt better and that he should be OK. He said his vision was temporarily blurred because of where the ball hit him.
The Great Danes scored their only run in the second on a Ryan Hernandez double, Travis Collins’ single and two walks. But UMaine starter and winner Nick Silva (2-2) struck out Marc Wangenstein with the bases loaded to end the threat.
Bec belted a solo homer to left-center in the third and UMaine chased Clayton with three more in the fifth on run-scoring singles by Sardinas and Colin Ridley, who replaced Vicens, and a bases-loaded walk to Ben Terwilliger.
Bec walloped a three-run homer to left in the eighth to give him 12 hits in 25 at-bats over his last six games since returning after an 11-game absence due to a medical condition.
“It’s always a blessing just to play this game. And when God supports you with five hits, it’s amazing,” said Bec.
“Chris is integral to this lineup,” said UMaine head coach Nick Derba. “Having him in the middle of our lineup, swinging the bat like he has been was a big key to our success this weekend.”
“We got off to a tough start but you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Maine. It’s always challenging to come up here and play but Nick had his team ready. It obviously wasn’t our best effort but you have to tip your cap to the better team this weekend,” said Albany coach Jon Mueller.
Junior righty Silva tossed six innings of impressive four-hit baseball with eight strikeouts and two walks. He threw 58 strikes among his 91 pitches.
“My two-seamer felt great. It was moving a lot. I worked inside and jammed some hitters,” said Silva, who added that he was grateful to his mates for their run support.
“It feels good to pitch that way (with a lead),” said Silva.
Eddie Emerson and Cody Laweryson finished up and the Black Bear trio combined to strike out 15.
Casals had two doubles and a single and three RBIs, Pena had three singles and an RBI and Sardinas finished with a double and a single and three RBIs. Ridley and Jonathan Bennett each singled twice in UMaine’s 18-hit attack.
On Saturday, John Arel hurled 6 1/3 innings of six-hit, one-run ball with five strikeouts and two walks as UMaine won the seven-inning nightcap 4-1. Laweryson and Connor Johnson (save) each pitched a third of an inning.
Vicens staked UMaine to a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a two-out, two-run single to center after Casals had walked and Sardinas doubled.
UMaine made it 4-0 in the fourth on singles by Vicens, Bennett and Kevin Doody (RBI) and a run-producing wild pitch by Dominic Savino, who hurled a five-hitter in defeat.
Vicens was the game’s only repeat hitter with two singles.
Hernandez walloped a homer in the seventh for Albany’s only run.
In the opener, UMaine erased a 1-0 deficit with five two-out runs in the bottom of the first on Bennett’s three-run double and RBI singles by Doody and Cody Pasic.
Hernandez homered in the top of the fourth to make it 5-2 but Sardinas responded with a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the fourth.
Zach Winn hurled 5 2/3 innings of one-hit, two-run (one earned) ball to collect the win. Johnson pitched a third of an inning and Matt Geoffrion threw three innings of one-hit scoreless relief.
Sardinas, Vicens, Bennett, Doody and Pasic all had two hits for UMaine.
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