Auburn, ME – CMCC Baseball suffered a pair of losses to in-state rival UMaine-Augusta, coming up one run shy in both games against the Moose, 4-3 and 5-4. The Mustangs had the lead in the fifth inning of both contests but could not hold on to secure a victory. The doubleheader was technically two home games for the Moose, though both were played at Central Maine's turf field after the recent heavy rain.

Game One, 4-3 L

Logan Carpenter got the ball for CMCC to start game one, going up against Hayden Chase. However, the UMA starter's day would last just two batters as an arm injury forced Tom Gust into action in the top of the first. He would go the distance from that point throwing what effectively would be a complete game.

The Mustangs took advantage of the situation to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Brady Vincent grounded out down the first base line but still brought Brandon Gour into score. Cody Cleaveland then sprinted home on a wild pitch.

In fact, everything was going Central Maine's way in the early stages. Carpenter struck out the side in the first and was perfect through three innings. Cleaveland scored again in the third on another Vincent RBI to increase the lead to 3-0.

However, UMaine-Augusta refused to go down easy. Jacob Plamondon pulled one back in the fourth, beating out a ground ball to Lee Robertson at shortstop, allowing Cash Bizier's run to count. When Carpenter walked lead-off hitter Elias Murray, head coach Ryan Palmer made the decision to bring on Jeff Meisner in relief rather than have his starter face the lineup for a third time. Bizier singled and with two in scoring position and one out, Plamondon singled up the middle to tie the game. Amar Douidi brought him home one batter later with a single into right for a 4-3 lead.

Suddenly down to their last outs, the Mustangs could not get anything going in the seventh. Gust retired the side in order to seal a come-from-behind victory.

Game Two, 5-4 L

The second game of the doubleheader took a similar track for Central Maine, only this time UMA took the early lead. Murry and Bizier both worked walks off of Vincent, who got the start in game two, then moved into scoring position on a double steal. David Jinks brought one home with a groundout and Jake Calver couldn't hold on to Plamondon's short line drive into center field, making it 2-0.

Brendan Mahaney and Ryan Stone both got on base safely albeit with an error and fielder's choice respectively. But both made the most of it, coming around to score on Robertson's hard-hit grounder into right field. That tied things up at 2-2 after two.

The Mustangs pulled ahead in the third when Calver came to the plate with the bases load. The Australian dropped a line drive into shallow left field, and Vincent came home to score even as the Moose got one out at third base. Hayden Durrell then added an insurance run in the fifth. His RBI groundout to third bring Shane Jewett across the plate for a 4-2 lead.

Vincent got two outs on the board in the bottom half of the inning, but after issuing back-to-back walks, he was relieved by Teddy McFarland. Douidi then rocketed the fourth pitch he saw just fair inside the first base bag and into right field for a game-tying two-RBI double.

CMCC left a runner stranded in both the sixth and seventh. In their last ups as the home team, the Moose loaded the bases for Plamondon. The shortstop came through with a ground ball through the left side to bring Murray across the plate for a walk-off victory.

The losses drop Central Maine to 5-4 in conference play while UMaine-Augusta completes an impressive spring sweep for the first-year program, winning all three games against the Mustangs.