Junior third baseman Riley Craig walloped two home runs, and junior pitcher Melissa Rahrich pitched a complete game and aided her own cause with a two-run homer and three runs batted in to lead Stony Brook to a 7-3 America East over the University of Maine at Kessock Field in Orono on Friday.
Friday’s second game on Seniors Weekend was postponed due to rain. The teams will play a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Despite the loss, the last-place Black Bears still have a remote chance to make the America East tournament because the University of Maryland, Baltimore County swept Hartford on Friday.
UMaine (11-28 overall, 3-12 AE) must sweep Stony Brook (28-16, 10-6 AE) on Saturday and have UMBC complete the three-game sweep of Hartford to get in. Hartford is 5-12 in the conference.
Stony Brook built a 7-0 lead en route to the victory over the Black Bears, scoring in each of the first five innings.
A walk, Katelyn Corr’s single, Irene Rivera’s RBI groundout and Taylor Pechin’s run-scoring single made it 2-0 in the first. Craig hit a solo blast in the second, her seventh of the season, and Rahrich slammed a two-run shot in the third, her conference-leading 16th.
Rahrich singled in a fourth-inning run and Craig homered again in the fifth.
Brianna Neely singled home a run for UMaine in the fifth, Maddie Decker hit her fourth homer of the year in the sixth and Alyssa Derrick homered in the seventh.
Rahrich (15-11), the America East Player of the Year last season and an all-conference first-team pitcher and utility player, allowed eight hits and three runs with five strikeouts and no walks.
Pechin and Craig were the Seawolves’ other repeat hitters with two each.
Seniors Decker and Derrick each had a single to go with their homers in support of losing pitcher Emily Reid.