CHAPEL HILL, NC -- Jeffrey Gibbs (Toronto, Ontario) allowed just two hits over eight innings, while Tyler Patzalek
(Burlington, Ontario) reached base five times as the University of
Maine baseball team defeated Florida International University 4-1 in the
Chapel Hill Regional off the NCAA baseball tournament on Saturday
afternoon.
An America East team has picked up an NCAA Regional win for the third straight year after Binghamton eliminated George Mason in 2009 and Stony Brook also knocked off NC State in 2010.
The win was the first in the NCAA Regionals for the Black Bears since
defeating Southern Miss. 12-2 in 2005. In addition, it was the 1,800th
win in program history.
"The Maine Black Bears played a great baseball game today," said head
coach Steve Trimper. "I thought we played a great baseball game last
night. We just didn't get the big hit. Today, we were able to
manufacture a few runs, and obviously, we got great pitching."
Maine got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. Tyler Patzalek was hit and scored when Ian Leisenheimer (Middle Village, N.Y.) singled to left field. Maine left a pair of runners on base in the inning.
Maine extended its lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Michael Fransoso
(Portsmouth, N.H.) singled to right field and then stole his 18th base
of the season. He scored the second run of the game for the Black Bears
when Joey Martin (Portland, Maine) doubled down the left field line.
The Black Bears plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend their lead to 4-0. Alex Calbick (Burnaby, British Columbia) reached on an infield single. He moved to second on an Ian Leisenheimer sacrifice bunt. Colin Gay (Franklin, Mass.) then singled to shortstop. Calbick scored when Troy Black (Mississauga, Ontario) singled to right center field. Gay scored the fourth run of the game when Taylor Lewis (Montville, Conn.) hit a sacrifice fly to center field.
FIU got on the board in the top of the ninth inning. Yoandy Barrosa
led off the inning with a double to center field. He scored when Pablo
Bermudez singled to right center, breaking up Maine's shutout. The Black
Bears retired the next two batters to earn the victory.
Gibbs was outstanding for the Black Bears, allowing just one run on a
pair of hits. He struck out eight batters in the game. He improves to
8-5 on the season. Stephen Perakslis (Abington, Mass.) pitched the ninth inning and allowed one hit.
Phil Haig went 5.2 innings on the mound for the Golden Panthers in
the start. He allowed four runs on nine hits. He struck out three while
walking two. Haig falls to 9-4 on the season. He was replaced by Mason
McVay who went two thirds of an inning and allowed one hit. Bryam Garcia
went 1.2 innings and surrendered a pair of hits.
Maine will now face James Madison on Sunday, June 5 at 1 PM at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, NC.