Baseball Travels to Albany for Last Series of 2015 Regular Season
5/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
ALBANY GAME NOTES
The University of Maine baseball team travels to Albany this weekend for at three-game America East series. The Black Bears are 22-25 on the season and 8-9 in America East play. Maine needs just one victory this weekend to ensure a spot in next week's America East Tournament. Albany is 13-26 on the season and 6-11 in America East play.
SCOUTING THE MAINE BLACK BEARS: Maine is led by Luke Morrill, who is hitting .365 with 31 runs scored and 27 RBI. He has 15 doubles to go along with two home runs. Morrill is slugging .497 and has a .440 on-base percentage. He leads America East in batting average. Brett Chappell is batting .326 with 23 runs scored and a team-high 36 RBI. He has 12 doubles. Sam Balzano has a .325 average with 32 runs scored and 18 RBI. He has nine doubles and eight stolen bases. Scott Heath has a .311 average with 32 runs scored and 29 RBI. He leads America East in doubles with 16 and is tied for the league lead in home runs with six. Brenden Geary is batting .289 with 20 runs scored and 19 RBI. Brian Doran has a .262 average with 26 runs scored and 28 RBI. Shane Bussey is hitting .257 with 30 runs scored and 17 RBI.
Heath is leading the pitching staff with a record of 5-3 and a 4.00 ERA. He has 55 strikeouts. Justin Courtney is 4-5 with a 3.02 ERA. He ranks second on the team in innings pitched with 64.0. Jacob Gosselin-Deschesnes is 3-2 with a team-best 3.02 ERA. Charlie Butler is 3-5 with a 4.46 ERA in a team-high 20 appearances. Jeff Gelinas also has three wins. Jake Marks has a pair of wins on the season. Logan Fullmer is 1-1 with a 3.35 ERA in 18 appearances with 17 of them coming out of the bullpen.
MAINE COACHING STAFF IN 2015: Maine head coach Steve Trimper (Eastern Connecticut State University '92) is in his 10th season at the helm of the Black Bears. He has an overall record of 459-428-4 in his 17th season as a head coach. He has a record of 287-254-2 with the Black Bears. He is assisted by Nick Derba (Manhattan '07), J.P. Pyne (St. Joseph's '01) and John Schiffner (Providence '77).
STYPULKOWSKI HONORED BY AMERICA EAST: Kevin Stypulkowski was named the America East Player of the Week on Monday. He hit .556 on the week with four runs scored and six RBI. He had two doubles and two home runs. Stypulkowski finished the week with a 1.444 slugging percentage and a .636 on-base percentage.
MORRILL, BALZANO AND HEATH AMONG AMERICA EAST LEADERS: Luke Morrill leads America East in batting average at .365, while Sam Balzano leads the conference in hits with 66 and in plate appearance with 230. Scott Heath leads America East in doubles with 16 and is tied for the league lead in home runs with six. He also leads the league in total bases with 91 and in batters picked off with five.
MORRILL HITTING STREAK AT 16 GAMES: Luke Morrill is currently in the midst of a 16 game hitting streak. He began the streak on April 18 at Hartford.
HEATH NEARING 200 HITS: Scott Heath enters play this weekend with 198 career hits, needing just two to reach the 200 hit plateau.
IT'S A MAINE THING: Some of Maine's top players this season hail from the state of Maine. Captain Scott Heath is a native of Westbrook, while classmates Sam Balzano is from Portland and Luke Morrill from South Thomaston. Freshman hurler Justin Courtney, who has 11 starts on the mound, is a native of Bangor, Maine, which neighbors Orono. Jeff Gelinas, who has three of Maine's wins on the mound, is from Saco.
DOUBLE THE FUN: Maine tied the school record for doubles in a game with nine in its 18-10 win over Lafayette on Thursday, April 30. The Black Bears tied the record set in 2012 against UMBC.
ON THE MOUND AND AT THE PLATE: Senior Scott Heath is leading the Black Bears on the mound and at this plate this year. He leads the Black Bears in wins with five. He is also hitting .311 for the Black Bears with 32 runs scored and 29 RBI. He leads the team in doubles with 16 and in home runs with six. He leads America East in doubles and is tied for the league lead in home runs.
FROM THE SUN TO THE SNOW: Maine has six Florida natives on is team including: Shane Bussey (Boynton Beach), Bobby Brennan (Cape Coral), Alex Cabrera (Miami), Danny Diaz (Miami), Christian Garabedian (Miami) and Kevin Stypulkowski (Lake Worth).
EXTRA, EXTRA INNINGS: Maine has played a pair of long games this season. On Feb. 21, the Black Bears played 14 innings against Clemson. On April 3, Maine went 13 innings against conference rival Stony Brook. Maine has played seven extra inning games this season.
HOME SWEET HOME: After 22 games on the road, the Black Bears played their first home games of the season on Sunday, March 29.
MAKING THE SAVE: Charlie Butler leads the Black Bears in saves with four. Connor Johnson and Logan Fullmer each have recorded two saves.
NEVER-ENDING ROAD TRIP: Maine left on Thursday, Feb. 19 for what was supposed to be a three-game series at Clemson. The games were moved to Augusta, Ga. due to the weather. Nearly a third of Maine's team had their flights canceled and remained in Florida before returning to Maine on March 14.
SCOUTING THE ALBANY GREAT DANES: Albany is led by Alex Lushkevich who is hitting .300 with 20 runs scored and 12 RBI. Eric Mueller is hitting .281 with 18 runs scored and 21 RBI. Matt Hinchy has a .270 average with 18 runs scored and 20 RBI. Shawn Blake is batting .269 with 25 runs scored and 19 RBI. Adam Mund has a .265 average with seven runs scored and 10 RBI. Trevor DeMerritt has a .262 average with 11 runs scoreed and 11 RBI. Will Miller has a .261 averae with 32 runs scored and 14 RBI. He has eight doubles, three triples and leads the team in home runs with 14.
The pitching staff is led by Stephen Woods who is 3-5 with a 4.15 ERA. He has struck out 47 batters. Joey Moore is 3-2 with a 4.54 ERA in relief. He has a pair of saves. Joe Romero is 2-2 with a 6.41 ERA. Brendan Ryan, Terry Dugdale, Cameron Sorgie, Matt Gallup and Daniel Castro each also have a win on the season.
Albany is coached by Jon Mueller (Eckerd '92) who is in his 16th season. He is assisted by Drew Pearce (California '97), Jeff Kaier (UAlbany '09) and Pete Eichner.
MAINE AND ALBANY ALL-TIME: Maine and Albany have met 63 times with the Black Bears holding a 35-28 lead in the all-time series. The teams split a pair of games earlier this season with the third game being canceled due to the weather. Maine won the first game 4-3, before dropping the second game 9-5.
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/
WATCH THE BEARS: Maine fans who can not make it to Mahaney Diamond can watch a stream of home games at www.goblackbears.com(.)
