WATERVILLE -- Ryan Murphy (Mansfield, MA) earned the win in relief in the first game and then had a save in the nightcap as the Colby College baseball team took 8-7 and 2-0 victories over University of Maine at Farmington in a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday at Coombs Field.
The Beavers dropped to 5-16. Farmington is scheduled to visit Lyndon State College for a doubleheader on Friday. Murphy, a short reliever, moved to 3-0 this season and has three saves for Colby (15-11).
Michael Cuqua (Walpole, MA) hit his first collegiate home run in the second inning of the nightcap to give the Mules a 2-0 lead. Colby had gone ahead in the first inning when Ken Kaufman (Lexington,
MA) had a leadoff walk and later scored on a sacrifice fly by RT Tourek (Wexford, PA).
Matt Moore (Winfield, IL) had three strikeouts and one walk over five innings to earn his second victory of the season in the second contest. Bobby Whelan (Boston, MA) pitched the sixth inning and Murphy closed out the shutout with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
John LaMantia (Gates Mills, Ohio) had two of Colby's five hits in the second game, while Josh Garneau (South Portland, ME) had two of the Beavers' four hits.
Colby's John Lerner (Canton, MA) drove in pinch-runner Zak Starr (Westport, CT) with the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth in the extra inning first game. Colin Riggs (Duxbury, MA) had a one-out single and Starr was brought on to run. Riggs finished the game with three hits, a walk, and one run.
Farmington had taken a 7-6 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, but Lerner led off with a single and his run tied the game on an RBI single by Kaufman. Kaufman had three hits and one run, while Lerner had two hits, was hit by a pitch, and scored twice.
LaMantia continued his hot batting with three hits and a pair of runs for the Mules. Nick Spillane (Darien, CT) added two hits and two RBI for the winners, while Spencer Jacobson (Newton, MA) had an RBI triple among his two hits.
The Beavers got three hits and one run from Kyle Shea (Bar Harbor, ME) in the first game. Tyler Hanson (Sanford, ME) belted a solo home run and Phineas Peake (Penobscot, ME) smacked a two-run double.
Whelan had another strong middle relief pitching performance by not allowing a run in a little over an inning of work. Murphy then came on and did the same until the Mules put up the winning run in the eighth.
