Bangor, ME - Junior left hander Carlos Rodriguez (La Mirada, CA) delivered his best outing of the season on Sunday, a three-hit complete game victory in Vermotn State University Lyndon's 2-1 North Atlantic Conference victory over the University of Maine at Farmington in the first game of the doubleheader played at Husson University. The Beavers rebounded to take the nightcap, 5-3. Lyndon is now 3-21 on the season and 2-7 in NAC play, while UMF is 8-19 overall and 4-6 in conference.
Game 1 - VTSU Lyndon 2, UMaine-Farmington 1
The game unfolded as a pitcher's duel between Rodriguez and UMF's Jameson Bloch. The Beavers struck first in the bottom of the first inning when Nate Coombs drew a one-out walk, moved to second on a wild pitch, and later scored on Sam Parsell's RBI single.
That would prove to be the only damage that the Beavers could do against Rodriguez, as UMF only managed two hits the rest of the game and never got a runner past second base.
UMF held onto the 1-0 lead through the first two innings, as the Hornets weren't having any success against Bloch in the early going either. That changed in the top of the third inning when Brandon Fernandez reached on an error leading off. After TJ Santaw (Newport, VT) bunted Fernandez to second, Evan Duncan (Little Elm, TX) tripled to right field, scoring Fernandez. Matt Gonyeau (St. Albans, VT) then came through with a base hit to score Duncan and give Lyndon the lead.
Neither team was able to push across a run the rest of the way, as the Hornets came away with the win. Rodriguez struck out six while walking two. Bloch allowed one earned run and eight hits. He struck out a pair and didn't walk a batter.
Game 2 - UMaine-Farmington 5, VTSU Lyndon 3
The finale of the weekend four-game series looked like it might develop into another pitcher's duel, this time between Lyndon's Nathan Bigelow (East Hampton, CT) and UMF's Chris Albert, as both pitchers kept the offenses at bay through the first two and a half innings.
The Beavers broke through in the bottom of the third inning, playing small ball and taking advantage of a Hornet miscue in the field. Colby Lewis reached on an error leading off. He later scored on Jonny Pruett's RBI single. Matt Marquis and Coombs then beat out back to back bunts to load the bases. Ryan Sargent lifted a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Pruett, then Parsell laced a double down the left field line, driving in Marquis and Coombs. That gave UMF a 4-0 lead, with all four runs unearned.
The Hornets took advantage of a pair of Beaver errors to get on the board in the top of the fifth inning. Nolan Barber (Jericho, VT) walked leading off. After Isaiah Wittirg (Phoenix, AZ) sacrifice bunted Barber to second, Fernandez reached on an error to put runners on the corners. Fernandez then stole second, and a bas throw allowed Barber to score.
UMF got the run back in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Sargent hit a one-out triple, then scored on Parsell's sacrifice fly.
Lyndon crept closer in the top of the seventh inning. Barber started things with a leadoff double. Fermamdez then beat out an infield hit to put runners at the corners. After Frenandez was caught stealing, Santaw singled to drive in Barber and chase Albert. Santaw then stole second before Duncan's base hit to center brought him around to score and cut the Beaver lead to 5-3.
Sean Cavanaugh (Londonderry, NH) and Alberto Bustamante (Northridge, CA) each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the Hornets, keeping it a two-run game. However Kyle Sawyer kept Lyndon at bay over the final two frames to close out the win for UMF and pick up the save.
Albert got the win, allowing two earned runs and seven hits with four strikeouts over 6.2 innings. Bigelow took the hard luck loss, as he only allowed one earned run over six innings. He gave up six hits and struck out five without yielding a walk.
