Maine Baseball Team Battles UMBC But Loses 7-5

The Maine Baseball Team dropped their America East Conference opener on Friday, March 20th, losing to UMBC 7-5 in Baltimore.

Maine led 4-0 at the end of the 3rd inning, but UMBC scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 4th and then 1 run in the bottom of the 5th inning to tie the score. The Retrievers added a fun in the 6th inning, before Maine added a run in the top of the 7th inning to tie the score at 5-5. But, UMBC scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to make the final 7-5.

Jason Krieger started on the mound for the Black Bears and went 6.0 innings, allowing 5 runs, all earned. He struck out 2 and walked 4. Thomas Stabley came on in relief and allowed 2 hits and 2 runs, both earned in 1.2 innings. He struck out 1 and took the loss. His record is now 0-2. Pierce Friedman retired the final batter in the 8th inning.

At the plate Troy Carpenter hit a grand slam home run int he top of the 3rd. It was his team-leading 7th homer of the season, and he now has a team-leading 24 runs batted in. He finished the day 1-2, walking twice. He's batting .278 on the season.

JuJu Stevens hit a double, ending the day 1-5. He's batting a team-leading .311 and the double was his team-leading 6th of the year.

Quinn Murphy, Hunter St. Denis, Christopher Mondesir, Rex Hauser and Brody Rasmussen each singled for Maine.

The Black Bears were 2-2 in stolen bases, with Murphy and Hauser each swiping a bag.

Maine is now 2-18 overall and 0-1 in America East. UMBC is 8-8 overall and 1-0 in America East. The 2 teams will play the middle game of their 3-game series Saturday afternoon, March 21st at 2:30 and then conclude the series tomorrow, at 1 p.m.

Maine's home opener is next Friday, March 27th when they host UMass-Lowell at 3 p.m.