Orono, ME. -- Ehi Okojie blasted his team-leading ninth homer of the season, but the UMBC Baseball team dropped an 8-5 decision to host Maine on Saturday. 

Okojie's two-run blast put the Retrievers (20-17, 8-6 AE) up 2-0 in the second, but the Black Bears would score the next four runs to take a 4-2 lead into the fifth. UMBC got a run back on an error in the top of the fifth, but Maine would answer with one in the bottom half and two more in the sixth to take a 7-3 lead. 

Danny Wyatt scored on an eighth inning wild pitch and Brooks Henderson followed with an RBI single to plate Derek Paris to cut the lead to 7-5, but the hosts hit a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to push the lead back to 8-5. The Retrievers put two on with one out in the top of the ninth, but the runners were stranded. UMBC made a pair of errors that led to three unearned runs for the Black Bears.

Paris and Henderson each had two-hit games, while Jesiah Carpenter, Kyle Eddington and Danny Orr joined Okojie and Wyatt with hits. 

The rubber game of the series is at noon on Sunday.