Baseball Hosts Stony Brook to End 2012 Regular Seasons; Fireworks on Friday Night
5/16/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Stony Brook Game Notes
The University of Maine baseball team hosts Stony Brook this weekend to close the 2012 regular season. The Black Bears enter play with a record of 26-22 overall, 11-7 in America East play. Stony Brook is 39-11 overall, 17-3 in league play.
SCOUTING THE MAINE BLACK BEARS: Maine is led by Troy Black who is hitting .323 with 26 runs scored and 19 RBI. He has four doubles to go along with 16 stolen bases. Tyler Patzalek is batting .319 with 28 runs scored and 32 RBI. He has seven doubles and three home runs on the season. Michael Fransoso has a .314 average with a team-high 52 runs scored and 23 RBI. He has 15 doubles, four triples and four home runs to go along with 18 stolen bases. Fran Whitten is hitting .305 with 31 runs scored and 22 RBI. He has 11 doubles on the campaign. Ian Leisenheimer has a .297 average with 26 runs scored and 29 RBI. He has eight doubles and a pair of triples. Scott Heath is batting .295 with 21 runs scored and 18 RBI. He has 11 doubles on the season. Colin Gay is hitting .293 with 29 runs scored and 26 RBI. He has six doubles and 11 stolen bases. Alex Calbick is hitting .280 with 35 runs scored and 39 RBI. He has 16 doubles and four home runs. Justin Leisenheimer is batting .255 on the campaign with 27 runs scored and 24 RBI. He has six doubles to go along with five home runs. Sam Balzano is hitting .345 with 12 runs scored and 11 RBI in 58 at-bats.
The pitching staff is led by Shaun Coughlin who is 4-4 with a 3.60 ERA. He has three complete games and a pair of saves. He has struck out 48 batters on the season. D.J. Voisine is 4-0 with a 3.67 ERA. Stephen Perakslis is 4-4 with a 3.93 ERA. Mike Connolly is 4-5 with a 5.57 ERA with a team-high three saves. Jeffrey Gibbs is 3-4 with a 7.81 ERA. He leads the team, having struck out 52 batters on the season. Jonathan Balentina has three wins on the season, while Fran Whitten has a pair.
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 374-346-4 in his 14th season as a head coach. He has a record of 202-172-2 with the Black Bears. Trimper won his 200th game at Maine on Saturday, May 12 at Hartford. He is assisted by Jason Spaulding (Vermont '00), and former student-athletes Billy Cather (Maine '09) and Ryan Forrest (Maine '09).
SCOUTING THE STONY BROOK SEAWOLVES: Stony Brook is led by Travis Jankowski who is batting .393 with 55 runs scored and 34 RBI. He has 15 doubles to go along with nine triples and three home runs. He has stolen 32 bases on the season. William Carmona is hitting .384 with 46 runs scored and 49 RBI. He has 18 doubles to go along with six triples and eight home runs. Maxx Tissenbaum has a .379 average with 33 runs scored and 32 RBI. He has 13 double and three home runs. Steven Goldstein is chipping in with a .371 average with 29 runs scored and 27 RBI. He has eight doubles and 12 stolen bases. Tanner Nivins is hitting .340 with 28 runs scored and 29 RBI. He has 11 doubles on the campaign. Kevin Krause has a .333 average with 28 runs scored and 34 RBI. He has eight doubles and three triples. Cole Peragine is batting .318 with 33 runs scored and 29 RBI. He has eight doubles and five triples.
The pitching staff is led by Tyler Johnson who is 7-1 on the season and a 1.99 ERA. He has four complete games on the season and has struck out 34. Brandon McNitt is 7-2 with a 2.00 ERA. He leads the team in innings pitched with 76.2 and has fanned 50 batters. Evan Stecko-Haley is 6-3 with a 2.45 ERA. He has thrown 69.2 innings on the season and has struck out a team-high 56. James Campbell and Jasvir Rakkar each also have four victories on the campaign.
Stony Brook is coached by Matt Senk (Cortland State '80) who is in his 22nd season. He is assisted by Joe Pennucci, Mike Marron and Dave Lorber.
200 WINS AT MAINE: Black Bear head coach Steve Trimper won his 200th game at Maine on Saturday, May 12 in the first game of a doubleheader against Hartford. The Black Bears won the game 6-3 in eight innings after a three-run home run by Michael Fransoso in the top of the eighth inning.
LITTLE BIT BETTER THAN SOSO: Junior Michael Fransoso had a weekend that was a bit better than soso a week ago. In the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, Fransoso belted a game-winning three run home run in the top of the eighth inning. He followed that up by jacking his second homer of the day in the second game. He finished the weekend hitting .364 with six runs scored and six RBI. He finished the weekend with a .909 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage. He was a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts.
DOUBLE THE FUN:Maine has hit 94 doubles on the season. That is five more that it finished with all of last season in 10 more games.
CAREER MILESTONES: Several Black Bears are approaching or have recently reached milestones. Justin Leisenheimer currently has 99 career runs scored and 93 career RBI. He recently recorded his 150th career hit and currently has 153 hits. Alex Calbick recorded his 100th career hit last weekend and has 107 career hits. Michael Fransoso has played in 153 career games, while he has stolen 53 bases. Fransoso has also scored 152 career runs. Fran Whitten has scored 49 runs in his career. Colin Gay has played in 97 career games.
CROSSING HOME PLATE: Michael Fransoso began the week ranked 37th in the nation in runs per game and 47th in total runs scored. He added three more runs scored on Tuesday, May 15 against Boston College and has currently scored 52 runs on the season. It is the most runs for a Maine player since he scored 57 during his freshman season.
NOT EASY TO K: Junior Tyler Patzalek has struck out just eight times in 141 at-bats this season. He ranks as the 17th toughest to strike out in the nation in the latest stats, released on Monday.
STREAKING BEARS: Michael Fransoso leads all Black Bears, having hit in eight straight games. Colin Gay has reached base safely in 10 straight, while Alex Calbick has been on base in nine straight games.
PLAYING AT HADLOCK: Maine defeated Boston College 9-4 on Tuesday, May 15 in a game played at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine, home of the Double AA Portland Sea Dogs. It was the first time that the Black Bears had played at Hadlock since the 1998 season.
FANNING EIGHT: Sophomore Shaun Coughlin had an impressive performance against Hartford. He pitched his third complete game of the season and allowed just one run on three hits. He struck out a season-high eight batters, which tied his career high. He is second on the team, having fanned 48 batters on the season.
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 six at-bats of each other all-time. Ian has recorded 536 at-bats in his career, while Justin has 530 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 return 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 earlier this season.
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.
1800 AND COUNTING: Last year's Regional Tournament win over FIU marked the 1,800th win in program history. The Black Bears are currently 1826-1430-17.
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
