Score: UAlbany 12, Maine 3
Location: Varsity Field in Albany, N.Y.
Records: UAlbany (19-20, 9-9 AE); Maine (9-26, 7-7 AE)
Short Story: UAlbany bounces back from Saturday's late-game loss to win yet another lopsided affair with visiting Maine to climb back to .500 in conference play.
Coach Mueller: “We had some goals at the beginning of the season, and one of them was to win more series at home. If we want to get to where we want to go, we have to win series at home. We saw a tremendous job by Ray Weber today. He really picked us up and was dominant. Kenny McLean gave us a little life, and Joe Kruszka is so hard to hit. We had a lot of contributors at the plate today. Marc Wangenstein's three-run homer pretty much stamped it for us and Travis Collins was great all weekend. The defense was solid today, and today we were the better team.”
Key Stats
- Marc Wangenstein hit 4-5 with a double, a home run, and six RBIs
- Travis Collins hit 3-5 with a double, two RBIs, and one run scored
- Nick Kondo hit 2-5 with a triple, one RBI, and two runs scored
- Brad Malm hit 2-5 with one RBI and two runs scored
- Kevin Donati hit 2-5 with one RBI and one run scored
- Dolan Ocasal hit 2-4 with a walk and two runs scored
- Ray Weber earned his fifth victory of the season, pitching 6.0 innings and allowing two runs with five strikeouts
Recap
The University at Albany baseball team closed out the first half of their 10-game home stand with a series-clinching victory over visiting Maine on Sunday. The Great Danes defeated the Black Bears by a final score of 12-3, marking the third game in the series that had been decided by at least nine runs.
Maine got on the board right away, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. UAlbany did not score until the bottom of the third, putting up four runs to take the lead over the Black Bears for good.
In the bottom of the third, Josh Gurnack worked a leadoff walk, and advanced to second when Nick Kondo reached on an error by Maine's shortstop. After Travis Collins singled to right to load the bases with no outs, Kevin Donati hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Gurnack from third. Brad Malm came up and singled to left, scoring Kondo and advancing Collins to second. Two batters later, March Wangenstein singled to left, scoring Collins and Malm to put UAlbany up 4-2.
UAlbany added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Dolan Ocasal led off with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Josh Loeffler. Gurnack next hit an RBI double to left, scoring Ocasal and prompting a Maine pitching change. After Kondo struck out for the inning's second out, Collins hit a single to center, scoring Gurnack.
Leading 6-2, UAlbany added four more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Marc Wangenstein hit a three-run home run with no outs after Malm and Patrick Lagravinese each reached base. Next, Ocasal singled to right and scored three batters later when Kondo tripled to right to put UAlbany up 10-2.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Wangenstein hit a two-out double to left-center, scoring Donati who had led off the inning with a single to left. The Great Danes now led 11-2.
Maine finally broke through to end UAlbany's run with a run in the top of the seventh to bring the score to 11-3, but UAlbany responded right away, scoring again in the bottom of the inning. With two outs and no one on, Kondo legged out an infield single to short before Collins hit an RBI double to right-center to re-extend UAlbany's lead to nine.
Maine managed to put just one runner on base for the reminder of the game, but the Black Bears never advanced past second and UAlbany went on to win 12-3 to clinch the series.
The first four hitters in UAlbany's lineup combined for nine of the Danes' 16 hits on Sunday, with March Wangenstein in the six-spot racking up four of his own. For the series, Wangenstein hit 5-10 with a double, a home run, and six RBIs. Collins finished the three games hitting 8-11 with two doubles and five RBIs, while Malm hit 6-11 with two doubles and six RBIs. Sunday's starter, Ray Weber, lasted 6.0 innings and allowed two runs on two hits with five strikeouts.
Next: Now halfway through, UAlbany continues its 10-game road trip on Tuesday when the Great Danes welcome Fordham to Varsity Field for a 3:00 p.m. set.
