Jake Rainess led off the first inning with the first of Maine’s four home runs, and Gianni Gambardella allowed just three hits over eight scoreless innings as the Black Bears earned their first America East baseball championship since 2011 by defeating Binghamton 6-1 on Saturday in Binghamton, New York.
Jeremiah Jenkins, Jake Marquez and Quinn McDaniel also homered for the top-seeded Black Bears (32-19), who earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The 64-team field will be announced at noon Monday on ESPN2.
After taking the lead in the bottom of the first, Maine made it 2-0 in the second on a double by Nick White and a single by Ryan Turenne.
Jenkins hit his 20th home run of the season in the third, Marquez belted a two-run homer in the fourth, and McDaniel went deep in the seventh.
Gambardella struck out two and walked two. Justin Baeyens allowed a leadoff homer in the ninth before closing out the victory.
GOLF
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Caleb Manuel of Topsham and Cole Anderson of Camden were both 11 shots out of the lead at 4-over 144 after the second round in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Manuel, a junior at Georgia, was tied for fourth place at 3 under through 12 holes, but then made five bogeys and a double bogey over his final six holes to finish his round with a 74.
Anderson, a redshirt junior at Florida State, shot a 1-over 71 that included one birdie and two bogeys – all on the back nine.
ROWING
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Bates won its ninth straight gold medal in the second varsity eight grand final and finished fourth overall among Division III teams at the NCAA women’s rowing championships in Pennsauken, New Jersey.
The Bobcats posted a time of 7 minutes, 10.463 seconds in the second varsity eight boat to beat Wellesley by less than a second. Bates then placed sixth in the first varsity eight grand final with a time of 7:24.793.
SOFTBALL
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Kinzie Hansen hit a tying three-run homer in the seventh inning, Tiare Jennings led off the ninth with a solo blast, and Oklahoma set an NCAA Division I record with its 48-straight victory – an 8-7 decision over Clemson to win a Super Regional in Norman, Oklahoma.
The two-time defending national champions were down to their final strike twice after the Tigers rallied to take a 7-4 lead into the final inning.
Jennings took the first pitch in the ninth to deep center to send the six-time defending national champion Sooners to their seventh-straight Women’s College World Series.
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