BALTIMORE, Md. – UMBC baseball senior Max Himmelstein(Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) went 4-for-8 with a homerun and two doubles in Saturday's two games, but Maine finished off the four-game sweep taking the win in both contests at the Baseball Factory Field.

The first baseman finishes the series with the Black Bears hitting .533 (8-for-15) in the four games with two homeruns, four doubles and ten RBIs. Freshman Ian Glassman (Basking Ridge, N.J./Rutgers Prep) was not far behind his teammate, batting .529 (9-for-17) with four RBIs against Maine.

In game one, the visitors jumped out to another early lead, scoring nine runs in the first three innings before the Retrievers could get on the board and went on to take the win, 18-1.

Sophomore Shane Vlasic (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) took the loss for UMBC surrendering 12 runs on 13 hits in five innings of work and drops to 2-4 on the season.

Shaun Coughlin pitched a complete game, five-hitter for Maine to pick up the win and level his record at 2-2.

Justin Leisenheimer paced the Black Bear offense, homering three times and finishing the game with seven RBIs.  Tyler Patzalek chipped in with four hits and three RBIs. 

For the Retrievers, senior Mike Lafferty (Baltimore, Md./Mount St. Joseph's) provided a spark off the bench going 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Game two was a back and forth affair with Maine eventually outslugging UMBC 17-11.

After the Black Bears jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third inning, the hosts got on the board in the bottom half, plating four runs to cut the lead to one, 5-4.  Glassman started the rally with a one-out base hit up the middle and moved to second as the next batter, senior Curtis Schickner (East Windsor, N.J./Lawrenceville Prep), singled to right.  Himmelstein then stepped up and deposited the ball over the centerfield fence to pull UMBC within two runs, 5-3.

Classmate Brian Klukowicz (Clifton, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) came to the batter's box next and matched Himmelstein with his own homerun to center cutting the lead to just one.

In the fourth, Gill held Maine without a run, allowing the Retrievers to take the lead in the bottom of the inning with three runs.  This time sophomore D.J. Smith (Millersville, Md./Old Mill) started the rally with a single to left.  After stealing second, Smith scored on Glassman's single through the right side to tie the game.  Two batters later Himmelstein roped a double to left to give UMBC the lead, driving in Glassman.  The lead grew to 7-5 when the Himmelstein scored on an error by the Maine second baseman.

Neither team scored in the fifth, but Maine answered UMBC's rally with five runs in both the sixth and seventh innings and tacked on two in the eighth to take the lead for good.

The Retrievers tried to rally one more time and came up with three runs in the bottom of the eighth and another run in the ninth to pull with six.

UMBC returns to action on Wednesday when the Retrievers travel to take on Delaware at 3 p.m.

DAWG BITES

-           The Retrievers stole two bases in the second game on Saturday and now have 28 steals on the season. The 2011 club recorded 21 steals in 47 games.

-          Himmelstein's homerun in the series finale is his sixth of the year.  UMBC hit a total of seven homeruns during the 2011 season.

-          Klukowicz is now batting a team-best .403 (27-for-67) to go along with three homeruns.

-          The Retrievers scored 29 runs in the series with Maine.  This is the most total runs they have scored in a four-game series since plating 33 runs against Hartford in 2009.

-          UMBC is now 3-30 all-time against Maine.