Auburn, ME – CMCC Baseball led 8-0 after four innings but had to hold off a comeback from the University of Maine at Augusta to claim a 12-10 victory on Friday night. Sophomore Jake Calver had a spectacular day for the Mustangs, hitting his second career home run and going 3-for-4 with four RBIs, while Brendan Mahaney also went yard.
T.J. Kramarz got things started in the first inning, working a walk, stealing third with two outs, and scoring on a wild pitch for a 1-0 lead. That actually took an RBI away from Calver who promptly launched a two-run homer to dead-center field, scoring Mahaney. It was the first home run for the outfielder from Australia since his two-run shot against Penn State-Schuylkill in last year's USCAA Small College World Series.
The Mustangs added two more in the bottom of the third to go up 5-0. It was Mahaney's turn to hit one out of the ballpark. The sophomore from Old Town, ME crushed his fourth homer of the campaign to left field, also plating Kramarz.
Cody Cleaveland, Camden Miller, and Ty Bernier all scored in the fourth to take a commanding 8-0 lead over UMA. Cleaveland scored on a wild pitch. Bernier lined a double to left to score Miller before Kramarz brought him home with a ground ball between third and short.
Just when it looked like things might come to an early end, UMaine-Augusta started to mount a comeback. Central Maine starting pitcher Dawson Babineau had gotten some great defense to that point, with his infield turning double plays in three consecutive innings to erase base runners. In the top of the fifth, the Moose started to string some hits together.
Back-to-back walks put runners on for Will Henderson who lined an RBI double to right. A groundout and a throwing error pushed two more across the plate to cut the lead to 8-3. With two outs, three straight hits from Jacob Plamondon, Matt Donley, and Amar Douidi drove in four more runs. Suddenly, the Moose were right back in the ball game down by just one at 8-7. That brought Joshua Gallik into the game in relief.
CMCC recovered to extend the lead by scoring four times in the bottom half of the inning. With two on, Bernier hit a line drive to right that scored Cleaveland. Kramarz was intentionally walked and Post beat out a ground ball to first with Miller scoring. Calver then came through again with two outs, doubling his RBI total for the day with a two-run chopper to left field.
The Moose pulled a run back in the seventh with lead-off hitter Elias Murray scoring on a wild pitch. Gage McGrane did the same thing in the eighth when Kramarz came to the mound to try and close things out. Murray came to the plate with the bases loaded, but could only drive in one with a ground ball to short to get the force at second.
Down by only two, UMaine-Augusta looked to complete the improbable comeback in the top of the ninth. YSCC All-Conference selection Plamondon led off with a single and stole second base. However, Kramarz was able to strike out two, with a ground out to first in between, to preserve the win and pick up the save.
Gallik recorded his first career win on the mound as the pitcher of record while Dominick Morey had the loss for UMA. The two sides meet for the final time in the regular season on April 23rd, up in Augusta. Next up for Central Maine, a visit to Great Bay on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 4:00 pm.
