AUBURNDALE, Florida - The University of Maine at Farmington opened their trip to central Florida at the RussMatt Invitational with a pair of losses against SUNY Cobleskill. The Beavers fell 8-3 in game one and 7-5 in game two. The games were also North Atlantic Conference (NAC) games, the first of which was nine innings, and the second was a seven-inning contest.

The Records:

With the two losses, the Beavers fell to 0-4 in the early season, while Cobleskill improved to 5-5 with the pair of wins.

Game One | 8-3 SUNY Cobleskill

After two scoreless innings, Farmington got on the scoreboard first, pushing across a run on a Ryan Sargent (Windham, Maine) sacrifice fly. Junior Jameson Bloch (Attleboro, Mass.) singled with one out, moved to second on a balk, and then to third on a wild pitch before coming in to score on Sargent's SAC fly.

Logan Firment quickly got the run back for the Fighting Tigers, blasting a home run to left-center to lead off the bottom half of the third. After Anthony Sergi drew a walk and Ryan Lansing followed with a single, David Flora followed with an RBI double to the left-center field gap to bring in Sergi and give Cobleskill the lead. Zach Ducorsky followed with a SAC fly to score Lansing. On the play, Flora attempted to move over to third base but was thrown out for the second out of the inning. Farmington starting pitcher Aaron Goschke (Gorham, Maine) got Jesus Sarda to fly out and limit the damage.

The game stayed at 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth inning. Lansing led off the inning with a double to center. Flora followed with a single and quickly stole second base to give the Fighting Tigers runners at second and third with nobody out. Ducorsky followed by ripping a single to left-center, scoring Lansing and Flora, extending the lead to 5-1. After advancing to second and then stealing third, Ducorsky came in on a Sarda SAC fly to make it 6-1 and chase Goschke from the ballgame.

Cobleskill tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from Lansing off Farmington reliever TJ Dorn (Westbrook, Maine).

Lansing continued to tear through Farmington pitching, ripping a two-out triple in the bottom of the eighth and then coming in to score on an error as Cobleskill took an 8-1 lead into the ninth.

The Beavers didn't go away quietly in the ninth. Joe Kalisz (East Haddam, Conn.) led off the inning with a double, and Matt Marquis (Monmouth, Maine) followed with a single and quickly stole second to put two in scoring position with nobody out. Bloch followed with a SAC fly, and Sargent delivered an RBI single to make it an 8-3 game, but that's all the Beavers could muster.

Leaders at the Plate - Farmington:

• Sargent went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
• Bloch finished 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI from the lead-off spot.
• Sophomore outfielder Ike Wrigley (Farmington, Maine) went 2-for-3 with a walk.

Leaders at the Plate - Cobleskill:

• Lansing went a perfect 5-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI to pace the Fighting Tigers.
• Firment went 3-for-4 with the big home run, two runs scored, and an RBI.
• Flora and Zach Papanikolatos each went 2-for-3.

On the Mound - Farmington:

• Goschke went the first 4.1 innings, giving up ten hits and six earned runs while striking out two in the loss.
• Dorn pitched three innings of relief, giving up four hits and one earned run while striking out six.

On the Mound - Cobleskill:

• Dylan Schwam picked up the win, going six innings, striking out six while giving up just one run on three hits.
• Mike Markle went 2.1 innings in relief, giving up two earned runs on five hits.

Game Two - 7-5 SUNY Cobleskill

Farmington got out to an early lead as Bloch led off the game with a walk and later came in to score on an RBI single from Wrigley.

After a 1-2-3 bottom of the first, Cobleskill mustered a run off Farmington starter Will Harriman (Biddeford, Maine) in the second. Korin Laurilla drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a balk, and later scored on an RBI single from Christian Tedford to knot the game up at one.

Farmington responded in the bottom of the third as Nate Coombs (Thomaston, Maine) delivered an RBI triple, plating Sargent, who had walked to lead off the inning. Coombs later scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1 after two and a half innings.

Harriman got into a little bit of trouble in the third as Jeffrey Gutierrez reached on an error to lead off the inning, and then back-to-back walks loaded the bases with nobody out. Ducorsky delivered a SAC fly, and then a balk from Harriman allowed a second run to score, tying the game up at three. Harriman was able to settle in and strike out Sarda and then induce a ground ball to end the threat and keep the game tied at three.

Farmington once again had an answer right away. Cal Tibbitts (Bath, Maine) led off the bottom of the fourth by reaching on a hit by pitch. He then came around to score on a double down the left-field line by Bloch to put Farmington ahead by a run.

Harriman was removed from the game in the bottom of the fifth with a 4-3 lead. Logan Holcomb (Hebron, Conn.) took over on the mound for Harriman and was met by consecutive singles from Flora and Ducorsky. He then walked Sarda to load the bases and was pulled, giving way to Lucas Tuttle (Framingham, Mass.). Laurilla greeted Tuttle by lacing an RBI single to score a pair and give the Fighting Tigers their first lead of the game.

Tedford followed with an RBI single of his own to make it 6-4. After a walk reloaded the bases, Tuttle got a strikeout for the first out of the inning. The next hitter was Gutierrez, who delivered the ground ball that Tuttle needed to escape the jam, but the double play developed too slowly as Gutierrez beat out the return throw, allowing the seventh run to score. Tuttle got Lansing to strike out for the third out of the inning.

Fighting to come back in the seventh, Farmington did bring the tying run to the plate twice. Wrigley was hit by a pitch with one out, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then came around to score on a single from Tyler Rosa (Morgan Hill, Calif.). Adam Champlin quickly slammed the door, thwarting the Beavers' comeback attempt and closing out game two for Cobleskill.

Leaders at the Plate - Farmington:

• The top five hitters in the lineup did most of the damage for the Beavers, combining to go 7-for-16 at the dish.
• Sargent and Rosa had two hits apiece.
• Bloch, Coombs, and Wrigley each had a hit, an RBI, and a run scored.

Leaders at the Plate - Cobleskill:

• Flora and Tedford each went 2-for-3. Flora scored a run, stole a base, and walked. Tedford drove home two.
• Laurilla finished 1-for-2 with two runs scored, two RBIs, and a walk.

On the Mound - Farmington:

• Harriman threw the first four innings, giving up three runs, just one earned, on one hit and four walks while striking out five.
• Holcomb took the loss, giving up three earned runs on two hits and a walk.
• Tuttle threw two innings, giving up three hits, one earned run, and struck out a pair.

On the Mound - Cobleskill:

• Logan Scott took a no-decision, throwing the first four innings, giving up six hits and four runs while striking out two.
• Reis Brammer pitched two innings of near-perfect relief, striking out six while giving up just one hit.
• Champlin recorded his second save of the season, giving up one run on one hit in the seventh.

UP NEXT

The Beavers return to action Sunday morning against Alfred University in another doubleheader. Game one is set for a first pitch at 9:30 AM.