South Portland, ME – CMCC Baseball split its Yankee Small College Conference doubleheader on the road against archrival Southern Maine, taking the first game 11-2 before dropping the second contest 5-4. It was the team's first loss of the season and ended a seven-game winning streak. Lee Robertson pitched a complete-game victory in game one before driving in two RBIs as an outfielder in game two.
Game One: 11-2 W
CMCC got off to a good start in their first meeting with SMCC since beating them in the 2025 YSCC Tournament championship game. Dawson Babineau drew a lead-off walk and scored on a wild pitch after advancing on a T.J. Kramarz double. Brendan Mahaney had a two-out infield-single to drive in Kramarz while Garren Post scored on a Brady Vincent base hit into right field. Camden Miller delivered a two-RBI shot into right to bat around the order and make it 5-0 in the top of the first.
Southern Maine responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first. Shortstop Tyler Herkalo scored on a groundout by Landon Sirois and Michael Pierce came home on a Thomas Marcotte single, but those would be the only two runs starting pitcher Robertson would allow in the game.
The junior from Port Joli, NS threw a one-two-three inning in the second and got out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam in the fourth by striking out back-to-back batters and getting lead-off hitter Dom Smith to pop out. The Seawolves managed just one more hit over the last three innings, failing to get a base runner in their last ups in the seventh.
Meanwhile, the Mustangs' offense kept on ticking. Post drove in two in the top of the second with a lined shot into right field that plated Kramarz and Caleb Oickle. The visitors then chased starting pitcher Cole Payne from the mound in the third when Ty Bernier, Kramarz, and Oickle each had an RBI on consecutive at-bats. Bernier scored the final run of the game in the fifth on a balk by relief pitcher Noah Peterson.
Game Two: 4-5 L
The second game of the doubleheader started out as more of a pitching duel between SMCC's Trent Collin and CMCC's Vincent. Both starters had no-hitters going through the first three innings.
Central Maine got off the mark first in the top of the fourth. Bernier led off with a line drive to right but was thrown out at second on a Kramarz ground ball. Oickle then drew a walk to put the first base runner of the game into scoring position. It was the perfect time for power hitters Post and Mahaney to be due up at the plate. The duo responded with back-to-back RBI singles into the outfield to make it 2-0.
It stayed that way through the fifth. The Mustangs added two more insurance runs in the top of the sixth. Robertson's two-RBI single to right field drove in Mahaney and Joshua Plummer and looked to have put the game out of reach.
However, the Seawolves finally seemed to solve lefty Vincent on his third time through the order. A single and double put two in scoring position for Herkalo, who promptly got the first run on the board with a sacrifice fly. Vincent battled back to strike out Sirois, but Samuel Potié followed that with a line drive up the middle to bring home Smith and cut the deficit to 4-2.
Aiden Wilkins was summoned from the bullpen in relief, but the freshman struggled to settle into rhythm with the pressure on. Two wild pitches advanced Potié to third while Alex Bartlett walked and took second. Pierce made good contact, lining a pitch between third and short to tie the game up. It went from bad to worse when Wilkins threw the ball wide trying to pick off Pierce at first, allowing him to race all the way to third. Similarly, Babineau had his cross-diamond throw come up short on a Connor Boulette grounder to third. Mahaney got a piece of it at first, but not enough to make up for the error, and it was 5-4 Southern Maine.
The stunned Mustangs came to the plate suddenly behind for the first time all afternoon. They could not respond, going down tamely in order to Mattias Cobham who closed out the win.
Next up, Central Maine gets a break after its busy start to the year, taking more than a week off before hosting Southern Maine in Auburn on Saturday, September 27th. That game will be part of CMCC's open house and homecoming weekend. First pitch will be early on an action-packed day of Mustangs athletics, beginning at 10:00 am.
