ORONO, Maine — After walking 24 hitters in back-to-back losses to Albany over the weekend and bringing an average of 6.7 walks per game into Tuesday’s non-conference game against Division III University of Maine at Farmington, University of Maine baseball coach Nick Derba was looking for better performances and more strike zone command from the eight pitchers he used in the contest.
After Tyler Nielsen and Blaine Cockburn combined to walk four and hit two batters in an inning each of work, the next six pitchers combined to hurl seven innings of one-hit shutout baseball with five walks and 10 strikeouts as the Black Bears posted a 14-4 victory at Mahaney Diamond.
Division I UMaine improved to 6-18 overall while UMF fell to 4-12.
“I liked the fact [that] we played solid defense,” said Derba in assessing the win. “No matter what, we had quality at-bats. And, from innings three through nine, [our pitchers] were in the strike zone.
“When we throw strikes, we win,” Derba added.
Marshall Smaracko tossed two innings of hitless ball with three strikeouts and one walk. He was the only reliever to pitch more than one inning.
Owen Wheeler retired all three hitters he faced; Gabe Gifford struck out two and walked two in his inning; Geoff Mosseau allowed a hit and struck out two; Noah Lewis had a walk and two strikeouts and Colton Carson closed it out with a strikeout and a walk in the ninth.
“We believe in our staff,” said UMaine junior first baseman Jeremiah Jenkins, who had three hits including his 11th homer of the season. “They threw strikes. That builds everyone’s confidence.”
“It was good to see the [pitchers] coming out and doing the job,” said UMaine junior second baseman Myles Sargent.
The Beavers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning at the expense of senior lefty Nielsen, who threw 41 pitches in a forgettable outing.
He walked the first two hitters he faced on 10 pitches and, one out later, Sam Parsell hit a run-scoring single off the glove of third baseman Jack Friend.
Nielsen then bounced a throw to first on Nate Coombs’ bunt for an error and Tony Pruett followed by lining an opposite-field single to right to drive in the second run of the inning.
One out later, Cal Tibbitts’ high bounding ball back to Nielsen turned into a two-run infield single as Tibbitts easily beat Nielsen to the unattended first base bag.
First baseman Jenkins had come in to try to field the ball.
UMaine responded with four in its half of the first against freshman lefty Trent Holman.
The Black Bears were gifted four walks, they stole five bases and received a run-scoring single from Nick White and a game-tying two-out, two-run single from Sargent.
Sophomore lefty Cockburn had his control struggles in the second inning but worked his way out of a bases loaded, one-out jam created by a walk and two hit batsmen.
UMaine took the lead for good in the bottom of the second with an unearned run off freshman righthander Gabe Philbrick.
Jenkins ripped a sharp two-out single to right, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on an error by shortstop Pruett.
Philbrick pitched a scoreless third inning, but the Black Bears chased him in the fourth when Will Burns hit a sinking line drive single to right and Jenkins followed by rifling a low opposite field line drive homer to left.
“[Philbrick] threw a lot of two-seamers. When I took the first pitch, I saw where the catcher caught it and it was a little bit on the outside corner,” said Jenkins. “So I was like ‘I can’t really try to pull it because if I do, I’m probably going to ground out to second.’ So I decided to go that way with it.”
Jackson Joyce came on to replace Philbrick and allowed two more runs on three hit batters, a run-producing error and Dean O’Neill’s sacrifice fly.
UMaine added two more runs in the sixth and three in the eighth.
Derba was impressed with the fact his team battled back from the 4-0 deficit.
“After that (first) inning, the guys said they were going to take care of it. And we hadn’t done that yet this year. There was some growth here today,” said Derba, noting there was more pressure on the team than there would have been against a Division I opponent because they were expected to win.
“We knew there were a lot of innings left. We stayed together as a team and had fun,” said Jenkins.
UMF coach Chris Bessey said it was a “fun experience” for his players and he was able to use a lot of pitchers who hadn’t seen much mound duty this season.
In addition to Jenkins, Burns also finished with three hits including a double.
Sargent and Plante each had a triple and a single.
Jenkins and Sargent each drove in three runs.
UMaine will return to America East action with a three-game set against visiting New Jersey Institute of Technology this weekend. It will be the Black Bears’ first three league home games after six on the road in which they went 2-4.
The schedule is in flux due to the impending snowstorm.
UMF will look to snap a six-game losing streak when it hosts the University of Maine at Presque Isle for North Atlantic Conference doubleheaders on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
