STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's (16-9, 7-1 GNAC) and
Maine-Farmington (1-5) each won a game in a non-conference
doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Larry Mahaney Diamond. Game one
starter Kyle Dorr '10 (Berwick,
ME) improved to 3-0 on the year after tossing six innings and
allowing four hits and a run with four strikeouts in the 5-1
opener. In the nightcap, starter Curtis
Orlik '12 (Brimfield, MA) was slapped with the
loss in his first collegiate start and went three innings, allowing
six hits and three runs with two K's in the 4-3 defeat.
Eric LaBatte '11 (Rochester, NH)
was 2-3 with a double in the loss.
Craig Pendleton '09 (Saco, ME) collected the game two victory on
the mound for Farmington. The southpaw allowed seven hits, no walks
and two earned runs while striking out seven in the complete game
effort. Josh Garneau '11 (South Portland, ME), Connor McNeill '12
(Portland, ME/Portland), Pat Howell '09 (Nobleboro, ME) and Steve
Hutchinson '10 (Beverly, MA) all recorded two hits in the UMF
victory. The win over the Monks was the first in the Beavers' last
eight tries and the second in the last 28 games against Saint
Joseph's.
GAME ONE -
The Monks struck first in the opening contest, as
Mike Burdin '10 (Gardiner, ME)
reached on an error by Garneau at third and later scored when
Pat Moran '10 (Winterport, ME)
singled up the middle in the bottom of the first.
Two scoreless innings followed before St. Joe's tacked on three
runs, all with two outs, in the fourth to stake a 4-0 lead. Catcher
Travis Adams '10 (Saco, ME)
reached on an error by UMF shortstop Brian Jenkins '12 (Gorham, ME)
and moved to third on a perfectly executed hit and run play by
Dan Brown '12 (Portland,
ME/Deering). Next up was left fielder Craig
Woodbrey '10 (Gorham, ME), who hooked a 2-2
offering from Beavers starter Bill Ridge '10 (South Portland, ME)
through the right side to plate Adams.
Wade Oliver '09 (Owls Head, ME)
sent both Brown and Woodbrey
scrambling home with a sharp liner to right and coasted into second
for his ninth double of the year.
The visitors produced their only offense in the top of the fifth
when McNeill sent the first pitch he saw over the right field fence
for a solo home run, the first long ball of his NCAA career. The
Royal Blue added an insurance run when Moran
scored on a fielder's choice off Adams' bat in the
bottom of the frame to make the final score 6-1, St. Joe's.
Dorr, now 9-2 with a 3.49 ERA in his SJC career,
threw only 59 pitches, 47 for strikes, in the triumph. Ridge
suffered the loss and allowed five runs on five hits with four
walks and three K's in six innings.
GAME TWO -
St. Joe's opened the scoring in the second game as well. Shortstop
Dan Achorn '12 (Bow, NH) reached,
and scampered to second, on an error by Garneau, moved to third on
an Oliver fly out, and scored when
Chris Campbell '11 (Rochester,
NH) hit a sac fly to right, lifting the Monks to a 1-0 edge.
Orlik cruised through the first three innings,
allowing just two hits, but the rookie righty ran into trouble in
the top of the fourth. Orlik found too much of the plate on an 0-2
offering to Garneau, who blasted the pitch to left center for a
leadoff double. The next two batters also notched hits, as McNeill
singled and Howell hit a sinking liner, just out of the reach of a
diving Oliver in center, which resulted in a two-bagger and plated
Garneau.
Orlik was then lifted in favor of reliever
Mason Roberge '11 (Franklin, NH),
who forced Mitch Bean '12 (Old Orchard Beach, ME) to ground out to
Achorn at short as McNeill ran home. Roberge
induced a ground ball out from Matt Levine '11 (Pelham, NH) for the
second out of the inning, but the next batter, Hutchinson, hit a
seeing-eye single through the left side to knock Howell home and
provide the visitors with a 3-1 lead.
The Beavers sent another run across the plate in the top of the
sixth to increase their lead to 4-1. Howell led off the frame with
a single and later scored on a Russ Schmelzer '11 (Winthrop, ME)
sac fly to center.
The SJC offense showed some life in the bottom of the inning to
creep back into the game. Campbell kicked off the
hit parade with his third double of the season and advanced to
third on an Ian Lee '11 (Hampden,
ME) ground out to short. Ben Grant-Roy '10
(Biddeford, ME) followed with a single to plate
Campbell to cut the deficit to 4-2. After
advancing to second on a passed ball, the junior first baseman
scrambled home on a LaBatte base knock to make it a one-run game.
Third baseman Todd Keneborus '11
(Hollis Center, ME/Cheverus) singled on the next pitch to give the
Monks runners on first and second with one out and the hot-hitting
Burdin due up. But Pendleton, who on this day
tossed just 91 pitches, 71 for strikes, induced a much-needed 6-4-3
twin killing to cease the threat with the Beavers holding on to a
4-3 lead.
Shawn Hall '10 (West Newfield,
ME) worked a perfect seventh inning in relief, but the Monks went
down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame.
Burdin went hitless in the nightcap and, as a result, saw
his 11-game hit streak halted. The junior infielder hit .561
(23-41) in the 11 games...Grant-Roy has started in
81 consecutive games...Oliver needs 10 more at
bats to become the fifth player in program history to reach
500...The senior needs three RBI's to reach 100, which would make
him the 11th player in team history to do
so...Moran's 3.22 ERA is the seventh-best career
ERA at St. Joe's among pitchers who have tossed more than 85
innings...The SJC pitching staff has issued just nine walks and
fanned 72 batters in the last 68 innings of play. As a result, the
team ERA has dropped from 5.65 to 4.62 in the last nine games.
St. Joe's will host Norwich University on Saturday in a GNAC
doubleheader set to begin at 12:00 PM. University of Maine at
Farmington will host Thomas College in a North Atlantic Conference
twin bill on Wednesday beginning at 1:00 PM.