LOWELL, Mass. - Albany, Stony Brook and Maine all posted wins on the first day of the 2016 America East Baseball Championship Wednesday at the LeLacheur Park. The fifth-seeded Great Danes beat fourth-seeded UMBC, 8-5, in the first game of the day while third-seeded Stony Brook beat sixth-seeded Maine, 1-0, in the second game. The Black Bears bounced back for a 11-0 win over the Retrievers in the final game of the day, the first elimination contest of the championship.
Albany will face top-seeded Binghamton in the first game Thursday at noon while Stony Brook will play second-seeded Hartford at 3:30 p.m. Maine will play the lowest seeded team among the losers of the early games in an elimination game at 7 p.m.
Visit Championship Central for links to box scores and highlights from Wednesday’s game and watch live and live stats links for Thursday’s game.
Albany 8, UMBC 5
Box Score | Highlights
Albany scored three runs in the eighth to break a 5-5 tie and went on to beat UMBC, 8-5, in the first game of the America East Baseball Championship. The Great Danes advance in the winners’ bracket to face No. 1 Binghamton on Thursday at noon.
Hunter Torres and Dom Savino combined for 5.1 scoreless innings of relief. Torres picked up the win in relief, allowing just three hits in 3.1 innings. Savino grabbed his ninth save of the year, throwing two hitless frames.
Albany struck first, tallying three times in the second. Joey Tracy got it started with a sacrifice fly, followed by Kevin Donati scoring on a passed ball and Karson Canaday capping the inning with an RBI single.
UMBC evened the score in the bottom of the second on the back of a two-run double by Andrew Casali and an RBI single by Raven Beeman to make it, 3-3.
Anthony Gatto broke the 3-3 tie with a two-run double in the fourth that gave UMBC a 5-3 lead. The senior had two hits in the contest for the Retrievers
Albany battled back with two runs in the seventh. Will Miller, who made two spectacular catches in the top of the eighth, started the rally with an RBI single. Freshman Tre Todd then came up with a clutch two-out single that tied the game at five.
The Great Danes broke the game open in the eighth, taking the lead on an RBI single by Evan Harasta, and then adding insurance on a two-run single by Connor Powers.
The win was the first for the Great Danes in tournament play since 2011.
Stony Brook 1, Maine 0
Box Score | Highlights
Bobby Honeyman hit a walk-off home run with two outs in the ninth inning to send Stony Brook into the winners’ bracket with a 1-0 win over Maine in game two of the America East Baseball Championship. The Seawolves will face No. 2 Hartford on Thursday at 3:30 p.m
All-Conference First Team pitcher Chad Lee threw seven shutout innings for Stony Brook, allowing just five hits while striking out five. Teddy Rodliff got the win in relief, giving up just one hit over two innings
Logan Fullmer went 4.1 shutout innings for Maine before exiting with an apparent injury. Jake Marks and Connor Johnson combined to shut down the Seawolves over the next 1.2 innings before giving way to Nick Silva. The freshman went 2.2 perfect innings before allowing the walk-off home run to Honeyman in the ninth.
“Wow. The credit obviously has to go to Maine. If you are a fan of baseball, that is about as good as the game gets with both teams going toe-to-toe. Neither team’s pitchers backed down. Plays were being made. I can’t be more proud of my team.”
Stony Brook has won four-straight tournament games dating back to last season
Maine 11, UMBC 1
Box Score | Highlights
Maine broke the game open with a six-run fifth inning en route to an 11-1 win over UMBC in the first elimination game of the 2016 America East Baseball Championship. The Black Bears await the lowest remaining seed of the losers of games four and five Thursday at 7 p.m
Starting pitcher John Arel allowed just one unearned run and two hits while striking out a career-high 11 to get the win on the hill for the Black Bears. Offensively, the one-through-six hitters for Maine combined to go 14-for-26, including a four-hit day by Brett Chappell. Freshman Colin Ridley drove in three runs and had three hits in the contest
Maine scored a pair of unearned runs in the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead. One run scored on an error after a Ridley single and then another came across after the freshman got caught in a rundown that allowed Jeremy Pena to score.
The Black Bears scored twice more in the third to take a 4-0 lead, again taking advantage of UMBC fielding errors. After Chappell scored to lead off the inning, Pena reached on a fielding error and both came around to score on a throwing error after a bunt by Danny Casals.
Maine broke the game open in the fifth, scoring six times in the frame. Ridley drove in two in the inning while Chappell also picked-up an RBI as the Black Bears took a 10-0 lead.
The win for the Black Bears was the first in the tournament since 2013 when they advanced to the championship round. Maine will play Thursday at 7 p.m.