Binghamton finishes 3-game sweep of punchless UMaine baseball team – Bangor Daily News

ORONO, Maine — With the onset of the America East Conference season, the University of Maine baseball team finds itself struggling to score runs.

Binghamton University pitchers limited the Black Bears to nine hits and two runs in 16 innings on Saturday afternoon while sweeping a league doubleheader at Mahaney Diamond.

The Bearcats won the opener 6-1, then took the nightcap 8-1. The teams play the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The setbacks extended UMaine’s losing streak to five games.

“We’re not swinging the bats well at all right now,” said UMaine coach Steve Trimper. “It’s a funk, a slump, a team-wide non-good-contact situation and it’s been going like that for a couple of games.”

The Black Bears (5-17, 0-2 AE) have now scored only eight runs combined in their last five games.

In the opener, Jake Cryts (1-3) found his groove after a tough start to the season. The junior right-hander, who had struck out four through his previous 23 innings, pitched seven innings of three-hit, shutout ball and fanned seven with two walks.

Binghamton (6-14, 2-0 AE) manufactured a six-run rally in the fifth inning that accounted for all of its runs.

Dylan Stock worked the final two innings, surrendering a solo home run by Danny Casals that represented the only run for UMaine.

Redshirt sophomore Jonah Normandeau of Cumberland (0-2) allowed only three hits through the first four innings, but was touched up for four hits in the fifth.

Trimper said Normandeau, and Game 2 starter Justin Courtney, both had issues keeping the ball down.

“Give credit to them,” Trimper said.

“Binghamton did a great job hitting our poorly-executed pitches today.”

C.J. Krowiak paced the winners with three singles and Brendan Skidmore singled twice with two RBIs among nine hits.

Casals, who lashed a leadoff homer to left in the eighth, also added a single for UMaine. Tyler Schwanz and Brenden Geary each stroked a double.

The Black Bears went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, including two failed chances in the second inning.

“We’re not going to go 4-for-4 every day, but you hope not to go 0-for-4,” Casals said of the team’s offensive woes. “It’s just getting back to our basics and doing what we can do best.”

Binghamton broke the scoreless tie in the fifth. Jason Agresti ignited the rally with a double off the left-field fence and advanced on a wild pitch before scoring on Paul Rufo’s single through the left side.

Rufo took second on a sacrifice bunt by Chris McGee, then Krowiak reached on a pop-fly single to shallow left-center. David Schanz pushed the second run across with a squeeze bunt that turned into a base hit.

Normandeau hit Reed Gamache with a pitch to load the bases and Skidmore made it hurt when he pulled a two-run single between third base and shortstop.

Senior Jake Marks came on and issued a walk and a wild pitch, before Pat Britt grounded out to make it 6-0. Marks shut out the Bearcats over 3⅔ innings, posting a strikeout.

In Game 2, the Bearcats scored three times in the fifth, then tacked on four insurance runs.

Senior righty Mike Bunal (1-3) stymied the Black Bears, surrendering only four hits while going the distance. He struck out 10 and walked only one.

Krowiak (double) and Gamache each posted two hits with an RBI and Paul Rufo singled twice among 12 hits for Binghamton. Skidmore and Agresti drove in two runs each.

Courtney (1-2), a sophomore from Bangor, was not sharp. He allowed 10 hits, including home runs to Hercane and Skidmore, and walked three but struck out only one.

Senior Kevin Stypulkowski lashed a solo homer and a single to provide some offensive support.

“We’re rock-bottom right now offensively as a unit,” he said.

“We just kind of need to step back and get back to the simple basics of it, playing the game hard and taking every at-bat for what it’s worth,” he added.

Hercane staked the Bearcats to a 1-0 lead with his towering home run to left in the third, but the visitors scored three times in the fifth.

Hercane worked a walk and came home on Gamache’s two-out single to left. Skidmore followed with a home run to left, making it 4-0.

Chris McGee and Krowiak posted RBI singles in the sixth to chase Courtney, then Agresti belted a two-run homer off Charlie Butler in the seventh.