ORONO – The University of Maine’s baseball team was three outs away from picking up a valuable America East sweep of New Jersey Institute of Technology on Sunday at Mahaney Diamond.
But the Highlanders capitalized on a costly error and received a clutch two-run single from sophomore catcher Cole Campbell in the ninth inning to rally past the Black Bears 6-5 in the second game of their doubleheader.
Sophomore right-hander Gianni Gambardella tossed six innings of one-hit shutout ball in the opener and sophomore catcher Dean O’Neill belted a grand slam as UMaine won the seven-inning opener 8-0.
UMaine is now 7-19 overall and 3-5 in the conference, while NJIT is 11-17 and 4-4.
The Black Bears led 5-2 after two innings in the nightcap, but starter Brandon Peterson of NJIT settled down and pitched two scoreless innings before Liam Reiner and Joe Georgini combined to throw five innings of four-hit shutout relief.
NJIT’s Albert Choi’s two-run homer to left in the fourth inning, his third homer of the season, cut the lead to 5-4, and that’s how the game remained until the top of the ninth.
Center fielder Choi, who had thrown out a runner at the plate in the sixth inning, opened the ninth with a routine grounder to UMaine shortstop Jake Marquez, but Marquez’s throw pulled Jeremiah Jenkins off the first base bag for an error.
Freshman Jason Krieger struck out the next hitter but, after Choi stole second, Cade Ladehoff walked and a wild pitch allowed the runners to advance to second and third.
Luke Long was issued an intentional walk, and Campbell followed with a ground ball single to center to score Choi and pinch-runner A.J. Soldra.
“I was looking for a splitty the whole time, and he finally threw it,” said Campbell. “It was the one I wanted. I didn’t try to do too much with it. I just hit it up the middle.
“I had hit the ball hard all day. I was hoping it would get through, and it did,” added Campbell.
“That was a big moment for him and big moment for us. He’s a young kid who is getting an opportunity and he is starting to capitalize on some of them,” said NJIT baseball coach Robbie McClellan. “It was huge for us. You never want to go on the road and get swept. And with only two games this weekend, getting a split was very important for us.”
The teams were supposed to play three games, but weather postponed Friday and Saturday games and the league doesn’t allow teams to play Monday conference makeup games.
Run-scoring singles by Ladehoff and Campbell staked NJIT to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but UMaine responded with Jenkins’s 12th homer of the season, an opposite-field shot to left, in the bottom of the first and added four more in the second.
Myles Sargent’s first homer of the year, a two-run blast to left center, triggered the second-inning rally and singles by O’Neill, Jack Friend (RBI) and Will Burns, and an error by shortstop Ray Ortiz produced the final two runs.
“We played pretty well but we needed to get some insurance runs in the later innings,” said UMaine junior slugger Jenkins.
“Reiner and Georgini were excellent, and Peterson gave us two scoreless innings (after being touched for five runs in the first two innings),” said McClellan.
Georgini pitched the last two innings and earned the win. He is 3-2.
Choi, Campbell, Ladehoff and Kevin Putsky had two hits each for NJIT, while Burns, Marquez and Sargent had two each for UMaine.
Freshman Krieger took the loss and is now 1-3. But he turned in an impressive outing with five innings of four-hit two-run ball in relief of Luc Lavigueur. Just one run was earned. He struck out six and walked four.
In the opener, Gambardella turned in a gem to best senior lefty Aidan Kidd in a duel of 2023 All-America East first team pitchers.
Gambardella struck out five and walked one over his six-inning stint and never allowed a baserunner past first base.
The only hit off him was a single by Austin Francis off the glove of Marquez.
He threw 92 pitches, 59 for strikes.
“I had (good) command of my fastball and I kept them off-balance with my offspeed stuff, especially my slider,” said Gambardella, who improved to 2-4.
Kidd, now 2-2, allowed seven hits and eight runs over 4 ⅔ innings, but just two of the runs off him were earned.
UMaine took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the second when Marquez rifled a single to left, went to second on Sargent’s bloop single to right and scored when sailed an errant throw to first by Ortiz while trying to complete an inning-ending double play.
The Black Bears extended the lead in the fourth when Zach Martin dropped a soft single into center field and, following a Marquez sacrifice, scored when Sargent ripped a line drive double inside the left field line.
The Black Bears broke the game open with six runs in the fifth and, again, Kidd’s defense deserted him.
Burns beat out a high chopper to first for an infield single with one out to start the rally.
Jenkins then hit a potential inning-ending double play grounder to second baseman Francis, who fumbled it for an error.
Nick White walked to load the bases, and Martin was hit by a pitch to force in a run.
One out later, Kidd hit Sargent with a pitch to force in another run before O’Neill followed by launching his grand slam over the left field fence for his third homer of the season.
Gabe Gifford and Marshall Smaracko pitched the seventh for UMaine.
Sargent was the game’s only repeat hitter with his double and single.
UMaine will travel to play a non-conference game at UConn on Wednesday at 3 p.m. before going to UMass Lowell for single conference games on Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
