VESTAL, N.Y. - UMBC baseball dropped a tight contest, 5-4, to Maine in the America East Playoffs on Thursday afternoon. The Retrievers will quickly turn around to take on fifth-seeded UMass Lowell in an elimination game at 7 p.m.
The Black Bears scored three runs in the top of the first as Quinn Murphy emptied the bases with a double to the right-center gap.
The Retrievers picked one up in the bottom of the first, getting a lead-off double from
Dylan Melton before
Ehi Okojie drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left.
UMBC tied it in the bottom of the second thanks to an RBI double from
Anthony Mascuilli and a run-scoring ground out off the bat of
Danny Orr.
Kyle Eddington led the inning off with a single, and Melton drew a walk to put two base runners on with one away.
A pair of scoreless innings from starters
Eddie Sargent and Vaun Larisa took the game into the top of the fifth tied at three. Hunter St. Denis singled to open it up before a Troy Carpenter two-run blast put Maine ahead 5-3.
Kailen Hackmann entered with one out in the fifth, tossing 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit to keep Maine at five runs.
Melton tripled with one out in the sixth, scoring on a base knock from Mascuilli to pull the Retrievers within a run and force Larisa out of the contest. However, Brennan Rumpf would toss 3.2 scoreless frames to close the game out and earn the save.
Melton reached base four times in the game for UMBC, finishing just a homer shy of the cycle. Mascuilli drove in two runs for the Retrievers with a multi-hit day, while
Danny Wyatt and
Derek Paris each had a pair of hits for UMBC.
Hackmann's outing was his longest of the season, lowering his ERA to 3.07.
