Baseball Travels to Hartford for America East Weekend Series
5/11/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Hartford Game Notes
The University of Maine baseball team travels to Hartford for a three-game America East series this weekend. The Black Bears are looking for wins as they try to move up in the America East standings. Maine enters play this weekend with a mark of 23-21 overall, 9-6 in America East play. Hartford is 14-36 overall and 5-13 in conference play.
SCOUTING THE MAINE BLACK BEARS: Maine is led by Tyler Patzalek (Burlington, Ontario) who is hitting .313 with 25 runs scored and 28 RBI. He has four doubles to go along with three home runs. Troy Black (Mississauga, Ontario) is batting .308 with 21 runs and 16 RBI. He ranks second on the team with 12 stolen bases. Fran Whitten (Westborough, Mass.) has a .307 average with 29 runs scored and 21 RBI. He has 11 doubles to go along with a triple and a home run. Rookie Scott Heath (Westbrook, Maine) is batting at a .306 clip with 18 runs scored and 17 RBI. He has eight doubles on the season with one triple and one home run. Michael Fransoso (Portsmouth, N.H.) is chipping in with a .303 average with a team-high 43 runs scored and 17 RBI. He leads the team in both doubles with 14 and in triples with four. Fransoso also has a pair of home runs to go along with his team-leading 15 stolen bases. Ian Leisenheimer (Middle Village, N.Y.) has a .297 average with 25 runs scored and 28 RBI. He has eight doubles and two triples on the season to go along with a home run. Colin Gay (Franklin, Mass.) is chipping in with a .296 batting average. He has scored 28 runs and driven in 22. He has six doubles to go along with 10 stolen bases. Alex Calbick (Burnaby, British Columbia) is batting .257 with 32 runs scored and 33 RBI. He has 12 doubles and four home runs on the season. Justin Leisenheimer (Middle Village, NY.) is hitting .252 with 27 runs scored and 23 RBI. He has six doubles to go along with a team-high five home runs.
D.J. Voisine (Plainville, Conn.) is 4-0 on the season with a 3.65 ERA. Nine of his 13 appearances on the season have come in relief. Stephen Perakslis (Abington, Mass.) is 4-4 with a 3.89 ERA. He has struck out 40 batters on the season in a team-high 69.1 innings. Shaun Coughlin (Northford, Conn.) is 3-4 with a 3.84 ERA. He has fanned 40 batters in 68 innings. Mike Connolly (Westborough, Mass.) is 3-5 with a 5.87 ERA. He leads the team in saves with three on the season. Jeffrey Gibbs is 3-4 with a 7.28 ERA. He has struck out a team-high 50 batters in 50.2 innings on the season. Jonathan Balentina (Willemstad, Curacao) and Fran Whitten each have two wins on the season, while Luke Morrill (South Thomaston, Maine) and Manny Pupo have one.
MAINE COACHING STAFF IN 2012: Maine head coach Steve Trimper (Eastern Connecticut State University '92) is in his seventh season at the helm of the Black Bears. He has an overall record of 371-345-4 in his 14th season as a head coach. He has a record of 199-171-2 with the Black Bears. He is assisted by Jason Spaulding (Vermont '00), and former student-athletes Billy Cather (Maine '09) and Ryan Forrest (Maine '09).
SCOUTING THE HARTFORD HAWKS: Hartford is 14-36 on the season. The Hawks are led by Simon Kudernatsch who is batting .346 with 30 runs scored and 36 RBI. He has 15 doubles, three triples and three home runs to go along with seven stolen bases. Brian Hunter is hitting .305 with 21 runs scored and 19 RBI. He has 11 doubles on the campaign. James Alfonso has a .289 average with 26 runs scored and 17 RBI. He has 11 doubles on the season to go along with a pair of home runs. Alex Bulger is batting .282 with 15 runs scored and six RBI. He has seven doubles. Andy Drexel has a .278 average with 26 runs scored and 29 RBI. He leads the team in doubles with 14 to go along with five triples and three home runs. Trey Stover is chipping in with a .272 average to go along with 28 runs scored and 18 RBI. He has eight doubles along with a pair of home runs. Brian Estevez is hitting .266 with 17 runs scored and 18 RBI.
The pitching staff is led by Freddy Andujar who is 4-2 with a 8.45 ERA. He has struck out 35 batters in 33 innings pitched. Sean Newcomb is 2-4 with a 4.17 ERA. He has struck out 45 batters. Brian Hunter is 2-4 with a 5.03 ERA. He has struck out a team-high 50 batters in a team-high 53.2 innings. Ryan Lukach, Zach Ferris, Charlie Moran, Hunter Englehart, Austin Barnes and Ryan Carter each also have a win on the campaign.
Hartford is coached by Justin Blood. He is assisted by Steve Malinowski, John Delaney and John Slusarz.
LOOKING FOR 200 WINS AT MAINE: Black Bear head coach Steve Trimper has 199 career wins at Maine. He needs just one wins to reach the 200 win plateau.
THREE FOR 40: Mike Connolly, Shaun Coughlin and Stephen Perakslis each have struck out 40 batters on the season. They are tied for second on the team, trailing leader Jeffrey Gibbs who has 50.
APPROACHING MILESTONES: Several Black Bears are approaching milestones. Justin Leisenheimer currently has 99 career runs scored. He recently recorded his 150th career hit and currently has 151 hits. Alex Calbick has 99 career hits. Michael Fransoso has played in 149 career games, while he has stolen 50 bases. Fran Whitten has scored 47 runs in his career.
CLOSE TO THE CYCLE: Junior captain Michael Fransoso was close to hitting for the cycle on Wednesday, April 25 at UMass. Fransoso led off the game with a triple down the right field line. He doubled to lead off the fifth inning before belting a two-run home run in the seventh inning. He finished a single shy of the cycle.
LEISENHEIMER AT-BATS: Justin and Ian Leisenheimer are both in their fourth season with the Black Bears. They are within five at-bats of each other all-time. Ian has recorded 529 at-bats in his career, while Justin has 524 at-bats.
HOME SWEET HOME: Maine is 7-2 at home this season. In addition, the Black Bears have outscored their opponents 58-17 in games played at Mahaney Diamond this season.
RECORD SETTING WEEKEND: Maine scored 76 runs in four games at UMBC the weekend of April 6 and 7. The Black Bears set a school and America East record with 32 runs in the second game on Friday. It breaks the Maine record of 27 runs set in 1976 against Husson. The Black Bears hit nine doubles on Saturday, breaking the school record of seven set in 1981 against Miami and tied four times. The Black Bears had 25 RBI in the game on Friday, just shy of the record of 27 also set in 1976 against Husson.
BACK FOR MORE: The Black Bears have returned 18 letterwinners from last year's squad and have brought in nine newcomers.
SAVING THE DAY: Maine has six saves on the season. Mike Connolly leads the way with three, while Shaun Coughlin has a pair and D.J. Voisine one.
17 STRAIGHT INNINGS: Maine scored a run in 17 straight innings at UMBC on April 6 and 7. In the first game of a doubleheader on Friday, Maine scored a run in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Maine scored a run in all nine innings in the second game of the doubleheader. The Black Bears then scored a run in each of the first three innings in the first game on Saturday.
OPENING WIN: Maine opened up this season with a 6-5 win at #16 Clemson. It was the first time the Black Bears won their season opener since 2008 when they swept Delaware State.
DOUBLE DIGIT HITS: Maine put up some impressive numbers during its 14-game winning streak. The Black Bears recorded 10 or more hits in 12 of the 14 contests.
BROTHERLY LOVE: The Black Bears have three sets of brothers on the squad this season: Justin and Ian Leisenheimer, Robbie and Steve Trask, and Nick and Garrett Bernardo.
FAMILY TIES: Garrett and Nick Bernardos' father Rick Bernardo played for the Black Bears from 1983-86 and was a first team All-American.
KEEPING IT LOCAL: Maine currently has eight players from Maine and an additional 11 from the New England area.
TOUGH OPENING STRETCH: Seven of Maine's first nine games were against nationally ranked opponents: Clemson (#16), Florida State (#8), and Stetson (#19).
PERFECT RELIEF: Luke Morrill pitched 3.2 innings of perfect relief against Fordham at the Seton Hall Strike Out Cancer Tournament on March 17. He retired all 11 batters he faced, five of them on strike outs.
WHAT A BEAUT: Shaun Coughlin threw a complete game in Maine's 6-1 win over Bowling Green on March 10. He surrendered only six hits and one run. He did not issue a walk and struck out seven batters.
GOING...GOING...GONE!: Justin and Ian Leisenheimer have combined for six of Maine's 17 home runs this season. Justin leads the team with five. Calbick has four home runs, while Patzalek has three.
PORTLAND BOUND: The Black Bears will take on the Boston College Eagles at Hadlock Field in Portland on May 15. Gametime is set for 6 PM.
1800 AND COUNTING: Last year's Regional Tournament win over FIU marked the 1,800th win in program history. The Black Bears are currently 1823-1429-17.
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Maine has four captains for the 2012: Jonathan Balentina, Michael Fransoso, Jeff Gibbs, and Justin Leisenheimer.
BLACK BEARS HONORED FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: Maine had eight student athletes earn Maine Scholar Athlete Honors for the fall 2011 semester: Sam Balzano, Garrett Bernardo, Brian Doran, and Luke Morrill were awarded the *Rising Star* honors. A.J. Bazdanes, Colin Gay and Pat Thibodeau earned Bronze Medals while Jonathan Balentina earned Double Gold Honors.
AMERICA EAST ACADEMIC HONORS: Maine had 11 student-athletes honored last spring by being named to the America East Academic Honor Roll: Jonathan Balentina*, Nick deVries, Ian Leisenheimer*, Justin Leisenheimer, Taylor Lewis, Joey Martin, Tony Patane, Carson Pillar*, Kyle Benoit, Kyle Stilphen and George Tager*. * denotes Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll with 3.5 or higher.
NEW WAYS TO FOLLOW THE BLACK BEARS: In addition to following the Maine baseball team on www.GoBlackBears.com, you can also follow the Black Bear baseball team via facebook and twitter. Become a fan of UMaine Baseball on facebook and follow the Black Bears on twitter at www.twitter.com/MaineBaseball
