The University of Maine baseball team’s appearance in the America East tournament was short-lived.
Redshirt sophomore third baseman Victor Mazzara singled home a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning to give the fifth-seeded Albany Great Danes a come-from-behind 6-4 victory over the fourth-seeded Black Bears at Mahaney Diamond in Orono on Wednesday afternoon.
The Great Danes improved to 21-30 and will now move on in the six-team tournament while UMaine finished at 20-31 after losing its fifth straight game.
Wednesday’s games between the lower four seeds were under a single-elimination format. No. 3 Binghamton and sixth seed the University of Maryland Baltimore County met later Wednesday afternoon.
The tournament switches to double-elimination on Thursday.
Albany will play either top seed Bryant at 11 a.m. or second seed the New Jersey Institute of Technology at 3.
The Black Bears had a 3-1 lead but Albany scored three times in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead before UMaine tied it in the bottom of the sixth.
Pinch-hitter Logan Morris began the ninth inning rally by drawing a lead-off walk off UMaine starter Caleb Leys and Louis Kaleb pinch ran for him.
Gianni Gambardella came on to pitch and walked Michael Maggio.
Cooper Loyal sacrificed the runners to second and third and Mazzara, the No. 9 hitter in the order who came into the game hitting .200, delivered his single.
Albany took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Ryan Ferremi’s single and Levi McAllister’s double.
Myles Sargent’s team-leading eighth homer of the season, a two-run shot, gave UMaine a 2-1 lead in the fourth and the Black Bears added another run in the fifth on doubles by Chris Bear and Brody Rasmussen.
Albany rallied in the sixth when it loaded the bases on a Luke Myers single, a hit batsman and a Luke Filippi base hit before a passed ball, a McAllister sacrifice fly and a wild pitch plated the runs.
UMaine tied it in the bottom of the sixth on a Sargent single and a Damon Gaither double.
Matthew Mariano tossed three innings of shutout baseball to earn the win in relief of Dylan Banner. He didn’t allow a hit or a walk and struck out five. He improved to 5-6.
McAllister had a double, single and sacrifice fly for Albany and Ferremi had two singles.
Bear had a double and two singles for UMaine and Sargent had a base hit to go with his homer.
Leys absorbed the loss. He allowed six hits and four earned runs over 8-plus innings.
He struck out four and walked two and he wound up 5-2 on the campaign. He was named American East Pitcher of the Year the day before.
