Inclement weather, which has led to poor field conditions, has plagued the University of Maine at Presque Isle baseball and softball teams during their spring southern trip.
The baseball team has been especially hit hard with nine of its 10 scheduled games in March cancelled. The team’s planned contest Tuesday against King’s College in Pennsylvania was also scratched, but the Owls are still hoping to get in their game at Centenary College in New Jersey this afternoon.
UMPI fell to 0-9 on the season following a 6-5 nine-inning loss to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania Monday.
The Owls were led by seniors Cam Morrell and Alex Csiernik, who registered two hits each in the defeat.
UMPI trailed 5-4 in the top of the ninth, but Shane Smith ripped an RBI single to right field to score Tommy Collins from third. Justin Bergeron, who had singled earlier in the inning, was called out attempting to score the go-ahead run on the play and the rally ended with the team unable to score again.
Swarthmore had the first two batters reach in the bottom of the inning and a throwing error allowed the tie-breaking run to come across.
Senior pitcher Jordan Perry went the distance for the Owls, but suffered the tough-luck loss. He allowed three earned runs and struck out four in his eight-plus innings of work.
The UMPI softball team dropped to 0-7 on the campaign following a doubleheader loss at Wentworth Institute of Technology Thursday and three losses at Fisher College the following day.
Against Wentworth, the Owl offense was steady but the defense suffered a letdown in the 8-7 and 17-6 losses.
In game one, UMPI took a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning as sophomore Katie Patenaude had an RBI double and junior Whitney Donovan an RBI groundout, with Patenaude coming around to score on an error. The Owls scored twice in the sixth to lead 7-4 as senior Brittany Luetjen delivered a sacrifice fly and Patenaude had an RBI single, which scored sophomore Taylor Cochran.
Wentworth, however, never quit and scored a single run in the sixth and three more in the bottom of the seventh for the come-from-behind victory.
Presque Isle ace pitcher Krista Coffin took the loss as she allowed eight runs, five of them earned, on eight hits, and struck out four. Patenaude was two for four with two RBI, while sophomore Amanda Allen and junior Allyson Pullen had two hits apiece.
In the second game, UMPI fell behind by five runs after two innings of play and was unable to recover. Pullen and Coffin had key hits in the early going and Donovan notched a two-run single and Shannon Brown an RBI single in the fifth, but Wentworth’s 10-run rally in the bottom of the fourth was too much to overcome.
Kaitlyn Dow suffered the pitching loss.
Both squads hope to get in several more games over the next few days before returning home this weekend.
