FARMINGTON -- The University of Maine at Farmington baseball team was handed an 8-3 loss by Colby College in the Beavers' home opener today at Hippach Field.

Farmington fell to 0-4 with a trip to St. Joseph's College for a doubleheader scheduled for Friday. The Mules improved to 5-9 and are scheduled to Bowdoin College on Friday and Saturday.

Craig Cooper (Trumbull, CT) powered Colby with two singles and a two-run home run, while Brandon Nieuw (Port Chester, NY) had a pair of singles and an RBI and Taro Gold (Belmont, MA), Chris Murdock (Briarcliff Manor, NY) and Richard Newton (Arlington, MA) each doubled.

Tyler Hanson (Sanford, ME) smacked a two-run single for the Beavers with Russ Schmelzer (Winthrop, ME) supplying a pair of singles and Pat Howell (Nobleboro, ME) an RBI base hit.

Tim Brettingen (Madison, CT) earned the win for Colby. Brettingen and starter Mark Collins (Sudbury, MA) each worked three innings. The duo held the Beavers to three hits allowed and one unearned run with four walks and three strikeouts over that span.

Dan Hemdal (Nashua, NH) pitched 5.1 innings for the Beavers and took the loss. Hemdal walked one and struck out five.

Copper got the Mules off on the right foot with his two-run homer in the first inning and helped padded the lead with an RBI single in the fifth. Colby pushed the advantage to 5-0 with a trio of errors by the Beavers and RBI base hits by Nieuw and John LaMantia (Gates Mills, OH).

Howell's run-scoring knock helped Farmington trim the deficit to 5-1, but the Mules added a run on Newton's two-bagger in the seventh and a pair of scores in the ninth for an 8-1 advantage. Hanson's aforementioned hit highlighted a two-out rally for the Beavers, but Farmington fell 8-3.