May 27, 2006

Box Score

Burlington, Vt. - The Maine Black Bears scored five runs on six hits in the top of the ninth inning to rally past Stony Brook and end the Seawolves bid for their second America East Title. With the loss the Seawolves finish runner up in the America East and end the season 25-29 and a 15-10 record in America East play.

In Game 1 of the tournament, Maine and Stony Brook combined for 28 hits and 19 runs, but Errigo and Maine starter Jose Mendoza kept the bats at bay and the game scoreless through six innings of play.

In the top of the sixth, Errigo was forced to leave the game with a shoulder injury. Errigo scattered five hits in 5.1 innings of shutout baseball. Kurt Jung came out of the pen and retired the next two batters to send the game into the bottom half of the inning all knotted up at 0.

In the bottom of the seventh the Seawolves had runners on first and second with one out following back-to-back singles from Isidro Fortuna and Pete Milani. Following a Stony Brook fly out, Chris Sipp hit a single up the middle to plate Fortuna and give the Seawolves a 1-0 advantage.

Stony Brook added another run in the bottom of the eighth when Chris DiBiaso, who reached with a single, scored on a wild pitch to put the Seawolves up 2-0.

Maine batted around in the ninth, scoring five runs off of six hits to give the Black Bears a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Matt Ostrander's double to left got Maine on the board when Curt Smith crossed the plate. Maine tied the game on the next at bat as Sean Parker hit an RBI single to plate McAvoy. Danny Menendez delivered the game winning hit when the freshman hit an RBI single to give Maine a 3-2 lead. The Black Bears would add two more runs, capped by a Joel Barrett RBI single.

The Seawolves got one run back in the ninth when Tom Pennino singled in Brian Witkowski with one-out.

Nick Abel (2-2) shouldered the loss for Stony Brook, allowing three earned runs in the ninth.

Perez, Pasieka and Matt Restivo were all named to the All-Tournament Team for their performance over the weekend.