Maine Travels to Lowell for America East Tournament
5/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
America East Notes
The University of Maine baseball team travels to LeLacheur Park and the America East Tournament this week. The Black Bears open the 2015 Tournament against second seed UMBC. Maine will play either top-ranked Stony Brook or Hartford on Friday. Maine finished the regular season with a mark of 24-26, 10-10 in America East play. UMBC is 32-18 on the season, while Stony Brook is 31-14-1 and Hartford 22-29.
SCOUTING THE MAINE BLACK BEARS: Maine is led by Luke Morrill, who is hitting .357 with 34 runs scored and 28 RBI. He has 16 doubles to go along with two home runs. He leads America East in batting average. Brett Chappell is batting .321 with 23 runs scored and a team-high 36 RBI. He has 12 doubles and two home runs. Sam Balzano has a .316 average with 32 runs scored and 19 RBI. He has nine doubles and eight stolen bases. Scott Heath has a .301 average with 33 runs scored and 29 RBI. Brenden Geary is batting .283 with 21 runs scored and 19 RBI. Brian Doran has a .258 average with 26 runs scored and 28 RBI. He leads the team in stolen bases with nine. Shane Bussey is hitting .250 with 30 runs scored and 17 RBI. Kevin Stypulkowski has a .246 average with 22 runs scored and 24 RBI.
Scott Heath leads the team with a 6-3 record and a 3.86 ERA. He has struck out 60 batters in a team-high 79.1 innings pitched. Justin Courtney is 5-5 on the season with a team-best 2.83 ERA.Jacob Gosselin-Deschesnes is 3-3 with a 3.51 ERA. Logan Fullmer is 1-1 with a 3.11 ERA. He is tied for the team-lead in saves with four. Charlie Butler is 3-5 with a 4.36 ERA in a team-high 22 appearances. He also has four saves. Jeff Gelinas has three wins. Jake Marks has a pair of wins on the season.
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 461-429-4 in his 17th season as a head coach. He has a record of 289-255-2 with the Black Bears. He is assisted by Nick Derba (Manhattan '07), J.P. Pyne (St. Joseph's '01) and John Schiffner (Providence '77).
COURTNEY NAMED AMERICA EAST ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Justin Courtney was named America East Rookie of the Week for the second time in three weeks on Monday. Courtney allowed just one uneared run on five hits over six innings in a 4-1 win at Albany. He struck out a pair of batters and improves to 5-5 on the season with the win.
MORRILL, BALZANO AND HEATH AMONG AMERICA EAST LEADERS: Sam Balzano is tied for the America East lead in hits with 68, total plate appearances with 242 and at-bats with 215. Scott Heath and Luke Morrill are tied for the conference lead in doubles with 16. Heath is also tied for the league lead in home runs with six, while he is second in total bases with 92. Brett Chappell leads the league in sacrifice flies with nine.
COURTNEY IN MIDST OF IMPRESSIVE FRESHMAN CAMPAIGN: Justin Courtney is 5-5 on the season with a 2.83 ERA in 13 appearances, with 12 of them being starts. He is 4-1 in America East play with a 2.13 ERA. His ERA in America East play ranks third best in the league.
MORRILL HITTING STREAK SNAPPED AT 17 GAMES: Luke Morrill saw his hitting streak snapped at 17 games when he failed to get a hit in the second game of a doubleheader at Albany last weekend. He began the hitting streak April 18 against Hartford.
HEATH NEARING 200 HITS: Scott Heath enters the America East Tournament with 199 career hits, needing just one 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 five wins on the season, 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.
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.
SAVING THE GAME: Charlie Butler and Logan Fullmer each have four saves on the season for the Black Bears.
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.
MAINE AND UMBC ALL-TIME: Maine and UMBC have met 49 times with the Black Bears holding a 40-9 lead in the all-time series. UMBC took two of the three games played between the two schools this season. Maine and UMBC have never met in the America East Tournament.
MAINE AND STONY BROOK ALL-TIME: Maine and Stony Brook have met 68 times with the Seawolves leading the all-time series 40-28. Stony Brook won both games between the two teams this season. Maine and Stony Brook have met in the America East Tournament 16 times with the Seawolves leading 9-7 in tournament play. Maine opened the 2014 tournament with a 4-1 loss to Stony Brook.
MAINE AND HARTFORD ALL-TIME: Maine and Hartford have met 121 times with Maine holding an 88-33 lead in the all-time series. Maine and Stony Brook spilt four games this season with each team winning two games. The teams have met three times in America East play with Hartford winning all three games.
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(.)
