By Kylie Johnson
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine – The Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) baseball team fell short in both games of its non-conference doubleheader between the Pointers from the University of Connecticut at Avery Point (UCAP) on Saturday, Apr. 22.
Game 1: L, 2-1 | [BOX]
In a defensive battle, the Seawolves clung to a 1-0 lead before the Pointers evened the score in the top-half of the third. The visitors took advantage of a SMCC error to put another on the board in the fifth. The Seawolves' bats were unable to answer the bell with a runner in scoring position in the seventh.
Sophomore Justin Colon (Aguada, Puerto Rico) totaled one hit and scored the Seawolves' lone run of the game on an error after stealing second and advancing to third. First-year Ryan Thurber (South Portland, Maine) managed two hits in two attempts from the plate.
Pointers' Malcolm Mention knocked in a RBI and teammate Vance Ward collected a hit and a run for his team.
SMCC starter Liam Jann (Philadelphia, Penn.) continued his dominance, allowing just two runs and three hits over seven complete innings. UCAP's Tiernan Powers was credited the win pitching to seven strikeouts and just four hits.
Game 2: L, 5-0 | [BOX]
Game two was a lot of the same from game one. The Pointers muscled across a single run in the sixth inning and continued their momentum with four more in the seventh.
Thurber, sophomore Anthony Sayers (Benoni, South Africa) and first-year Luke Wearne (Ellington, Conn.) each picked up one hit for the Seawolves.
Riley Carew knocked in two runners for the Pointers
SMCC starter Kalin Marum (New South Wales, Australia) struck out five over six innings. UCAP's Liam Chamberlain pitched six innings to earn the victory.
In a post-game interview, Head Coach Nic Lops commented, "Saturday was a chance for us to compete against a very good NJCAA D2 ball club in UConn AP. They are a tremendously talented club that I love to play against each spring. Our pitching was the highlight of the double header. Both Liam Jann and Kalin Marum gave us perhaps their best outings of the year so far. However, our bats did not show up all day. Got to give credit to UConn's very good arms, but we will need to swing it better down the stretch to give ourselves a better chance. Our defense is starting to shape up nicely as well. I like where our pitching and defense is trending heading into the home stretch of our season. Bats will wake up."
The Seawolves stand 16-15 overall.
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