FARMINGDALE, N.Y.-- No. 4 Maine belted 17 hits that accounted for 13 runs as the Black Bears earned a 13-8 win over No. 2 Stony Brook in an elimination game at the 2007 America East Baseball Championship on Friday afternoon at Farmingdale State College.
The Black Bears improve to 22-30 overall, while Stony Brook closes out the 2007 season with a 31-24 record. Maine will face the loser of the Binghamton/Albany game 12:05 p.m. on Saturday.
Maine jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning when Curt Smith hit an RBI triple to the wall in right-center and later scored on a Myckie Lugbauer single. The Black Bears extended their lead to 6-0 as they plated three in the fifth capped by a Lugbauer RBI single.
Stony Brook scored its first runs of the game when Rob Leonard blasted a two run shot over the centerfield fence as the Seawolves trailed 6-2. Maine answered with four in the sixth and three in the seventh as the Black Bears extended their lead to 13-2 through seven.
The Seawolves rallied in the top of the eighth to score six runs off of seven hits.
Ryan Forrest got the Black Bears out of the jam in the eighth and threw a scoreless ninth as Maine held on for the 13-8 win.
Billy Cather was 4-for-4 in the game and scored four runs, while Joel Barrett hit a three-run home run and drove in six runs.
Greg Norton went 7.1 innings and allowed seven runs on nine hits. He improves to 7-3 on the season. Will Carroll
Gary Novakowski (5-2) picked up the loss, allowing six runs off of 10 hits in 4.0 innings on the hill. Leonard paced the offense for Stony Brook, going 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored.