FARMINGTON – The 2016 University of Maine at Farmington baseball team (21-14, 13-9) became the first team in the 63-year history of the program to record a 20-win season. The Beavers broke the record, set by the 1988 squad, with a North Atlantic Conference doubleheader sweep over Colby-Sawyer College (13-21, 8-14) on Saturday afternoon at Hippach Field.
The Beavers set the mark in game one with a 5-2 win and then held on to win game two, 4-3.
Ben Keene (Livermore, Maine/Spruce Mountain) got the offense started in the first inning of game one with a sacrifice fly.
After Colby-Sawyer answered with an RBI double in the top of the second inning off the bat of Brendan Thurbur, UMF came back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. Sean Cabaniss (Vassalboro, Maine/Erskine Academy) roped a two-run single through the left side of the infield to give the Beavers a 3-1 lead.
Colby-Sawyer moved it back to a one-run game in the top of the third when Nathan Frongillo lined an RBI single to left field.
UMF’s 3-2 lead stood until the bottom of the fifth inning when the offense padded the advantage with two more runs. The Beavers strung together four straight one-out singles, including RBI base hits from Jordan Croteau (South Paris, Maine/Oxford Hills) and Dustin McCrossin (Yarmouth, Maine/Yarmouth).
Jimmy Parks (Springvale, Maine/Sanford) was 2-for-3 in the first game and Cabaniss registered two RBI.
Nate Pushard (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little) tossed a complete game on the hill for UMF. Pushard fanned four hitters and surrendered one earned run on eight hits.
In game two, the Chargers jumped out to an early 1-0 in their first trip to the plate after Connor Henry crushed an RBI double off the left field fence.
The Beavers prevailed in the bottom of the inning with three RBI singles from Cabaniss, Tom Grady (Whitefield, Maine/Erskine Academy), and McCrossin.
McCrossin recorded his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to left field in the bottom of the third inning and gave UMF a 4-1 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning, Colby-Sawyer made it a one-run game with two more runs. The Chargers led off the inning with an infield single and then Joey Fenuccio drove a line drive to left field and moved all the way to third after a UMF outfield error. Fenuccio came home to score one batter later on an RBI groundout by Jackson Musco.
Riley Chickering (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) threw UMF’s second complete game victory of the afternoon. Chickering struck out four Chargers and allowed one earned run on nine hits.
Cabaniss finished the afternoon 2-for-6 with three RBI and a run scored. McCrossin was 2-for-3 and matched Cabaniss with three RBI and a run scored.
UMF and Colby-Sawyer wrap up the regular season on Sunday with a doubleheader at Hippach Field.
