Baseball: Maine sweeps Albany

Maine pitcher Keith Bilodeau (38) gets congratulated by teammates (Photo BDN/Michael C York)

The University of Maine baseball team swept a doubleheader from Albany on Sunday afternoon, shutting out the Great Danes 3-0 in the first game, before taking the nightcap 5-3. Maine improves to 15-20 on the season with the wins and 5-4 in America East Conference play. Albany falls to 13-20 overall and 5-4 in conference play.

In the first game after a pair of scoreless innings, Maine took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Troy Black (Mississauga, Ontario) led off the inning with a double down the right field line. Michael Fransoso (Portsmouth, N.H.) drew a walk. Both runners advanced a base on a double steal. Joey Martin (Portland, Maine) singled to center field driving home both Black and Fransoso.

Maine added to its lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with a run. Tyler Patzalek (Burlington, Ontario) singled to left field. Mike Connolly (Middleborough, Mass.) then pinch ran for Patzalek. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Alex Calbick (Burnaby, British Columbia) and scored when Black singled to right field.

That was all the scoring in the game, as the Black Bears completed their second shutout of the season.

Maine pitcher Keith Bilodeau (Bourne, Mass.) was outstanding on the mound. He pitched the complete game and allowed just a pair of hits while striking out seven. It was his team-leading third complete game of the season and first complete game shutout. Bilodeau improves to 5-2 on the season.

Dave Kubiak went six innings on the mound for Albany. He allowed three runs on six hits. He struck out four batters, while walking four. He moves to 4-4 on the season.

In the second game, Maine jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Taylor Lewis (Montville, Conn.) drew a walk and Michael Fransoso followed with a double to the left center field fence, plating Lewis from first base. Fransoso advanced to third on a Joey Martin sacrifice bunt and scored when Justin Leisenheimer (Middle Village, N.Y.) singled to center field. Fran Whitten (Westborough, Mass.) and Tyler Patzalek then had back-to-back singles to load the bases. Maine extended its lead to 3-0 when Calbick drew a bases loaded walk, forcing home Justin Leisenheimer from third base. Whitten scored when Colin Gay (Franklin, Mass.) singled to left field. Patzalek scored the fifth run of the inning when Black singled to right center field.

Albany got on the board with a run in the top of the fifth inning. Joe Ilacqua walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored when Nolan Gaige doubled to left center field.

Albany got two runs in the top of the eighth inning. Gaige drew a walk and scored when Kyle Crean doubled to right center. Crean, who advanced to third base on a wild pitch, scored when Josh Nethaway hit a sacrifice fly to left field.

Jeffrey Gibbs (Toronto, Ontario) went six innings on the mound for the Black Bears. He allowed one run on a pair of hits. He struck out six batters in the game and improves to 4-4 on the season. He was replaced by Stephen Perakslis (Abington, Mass.) who went one inning. He allowed two runs on one hit while striking out one. He was replaced by Shaun Coughlin (Northfield, Conn.) who picked up his first save of the season. Coughlin went two innings without allowing a hit. He struck out four batters.

Kasceim Graham went seven innings for Albany. He allowed five runs on eight hits while striking out five. He falls to 2-1 on the season. Matt Dybus pitched the eighth inning for the Great Danes and surrendered just one hit.

Maine and Albany conclude their three game America East series with a single game on Monday, April 25 starting at 2 PM at Mahaney Diamond.