WATERVILLE – University of Maine at Farmington baseball (18-13, 11-9) senior Ben Keene (Livermore, Maine/Spruce Mountain) broke the program record with his eighth-career triple on Wednesday afternoon in a North Atlantic Conference doubleheader split at Thomas College (19-16, 13-9).
The Beavers were held to only three hits in the first game with a 2-0 loss but the offense came alive in the second game with an 18-5 rout.
In the second game, UMF held a 5-4 lead after four innings but manufactured 11 runs in the top of the fifth inning. Trevor Hisler (Skowhegan, Maine/Skowhegan) gave the Beavers an insurance run with an RBI single and Jimmy Parks (Springvale, Maine/Sanford) followed with an RBI single down the left field line.
The Beavers got the bases loaded and drove in another run after Dustin McCrossin (Yarmouth, Maine/Yarmouth) got hit by a pitch. After a wild pitch brought in another run, Keene cleared the bases with a two-run triple into the right center gap and eclipsed the triples record set by current head baseball coach Chris Bessey.
Later in the inning, Jordan Croteau (South, Paris, Maine/Oxford Hills) capped off the big inning with a three-run home run that cleared the scoreboard in left field at H. Allen Ryan Field.
Keene finished the second game 3-for-5 with four RBI and two runs scored. McCrossin was 4-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. Hisler was also productive at the plate in the nightcap by hitting 2-for-3 with three RBI.
In the first game, Thomas grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a home run from Derek Kane and then added an insurance run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly.
Mark Leahy (Rochester, N.H./Spaulding) pitched a complete game on the hill for the Beavers. Leahy yielded the two runs on six hits and fanned four Terriers.
UMF hosts UMaine-Presque Isle in the non-conference finale on Thursday afternoon.
