Baseball Hosts Binghamton in Final Home Series of 2015
5/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Binghamton Game Notes
The University of Maine baseball team hosts Binghamton this weekend in the final home games of the 2015 season. Maine is looking for wins as it tries to move up in the America East standings. The Black Bears enter play this weekend with a mark of 19-24 overall, 5-9 in conference play. Binghamton is 17-19-1 overall, 6-11 in America East action. Prior to the game on Saturday, Maine will honor its six seniors.
SCOUTING THE MAINE BLACK BEARS: Maine is led by Luke Morrill, who is hitting .363 with 28 runs scored and 26 RBI. He has 13 doubles to go along with two home runs. Morrill is slugging .493 and has a .441 on-base percentage. He leads America East in batting average. Sam Balzano has a .344 average with 32 runs scored and 16 RBI. He has nine doubles and leads the team in stolen bases with eight. Brett Chappell is batting .323 with 22 runs scored and a team-high 35 RBI. He has 12 doubles. Scott Heath has a .311 average with 30 runs scored and 29 RBI. He leads America East in doubles with 15 and is tied for the league lead in home runs with six. Brenden Geary is batting .284 with 16 runs scored and 16 RBI. Brian Doran has a .268 average with 23 runs scored and 27 RBI. Shane Bussey is hitting .254 with 29 runs scored and 16 RBI.
Heath is leading the pitching staff with a record of 4-3 and a 4.14 ERA. He has 48 strikeouts. Justin Courtney is 3-5 with a team-best 3.24 ERA. He ranks second on the team in innings pitched with 58.1. Charlie Butler is 3-5 with a 4.66 ERA. He has four saves on the season. Jeff Gelinas is 3-1 with a 5.23 ERA. Jacob Gosselin-Deschesnes and Jake Marks each also have two 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 456-427-4 in his 17th season as a head coach. He has a record of 284-253-2 with the Black Bears. He is assisted by Nick Derba (Manhattan '07), J.P. Pyne (St. Joseph's '01) and John Schiffner (Providence '77).
BLACK BEARS HONORS BY AMERICA EAST: Scott Heath was named the America East Player of the Week on Monday, while Justin Courtney was named the Rookie of the Week. Heath hit .481 in six games with 10 runs scored and eight RBI. He had four home runs in a four-game weekend series at NYIT. He also picked up a win on the mound, striking out a career-high 11 batters. Courtney pitched a complete nine inning game where he allowed just one run on eight hits, while trying his career-high with five strikeouts at NYIT. Heath was also named ECAC Division I North Player of the Week too.
MORRILL, BALZANO AND HEATH AMONG AMERICA EAST LEADERS: Luke Morrill leads America East in batting average at .363, while Sam Balzano leads the conference in hits with 64. Scott Heath leads America East in doubles with 15 and is tied for the league lead in home runs with six.
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 10 starts, 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 at this plate this year. He leads the Black Bears in wins with four. He is also hitting .311 for the Black Bears with 20 runs scored and 29 RBI. He leads the team in doubles with 15 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).
MILESTONES APPROACHING FOR HEATH: Scott Heath is approaching several milestones. He is one run away from 100. He has 193 career hits, leaving him just seven shy of 200. He has 49 career doubles, needing just one for 50.
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 has recorded two saves, while Logan Fullmer has one.
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 BINGHAMTON BEARCATS: Binghamton is led by Jake Thomas who is hitting .350 with 29 runs scored and 28 RBI. He has 12 doubles on the season and has stolen seven bases. Zach Blanden is hitting .336 with 35 runs scored and 21 RBI. He has eight doubles and seven stolen bases as well. C.J. Krowiak is batting .317 with 17 runs scored and five RBI. Chris McGee is chipping in with a .296 average with nine runs scored and seven RBI. Brendan Skidmore has a .295 average with 18 runs scored and 30 RBI. He leads the team in home runs with five. Reed Gamache is hitting .286 with 22 runs scored and 25 RBI. Eddie Posavec has a .269 average with 19 runs scored and 20 RBI, while David Schanz is batting .248 with 20 runs scored and 12 RBI.
The pitching staff is led by Mike Bunai who is 4-4 on the season with a 4.12 ERA. He has struck out a team-high 31 batters on the season. Rob Hardy is 3-3 with a 4.75 ERA. Greg Ostner is 1-6 with a 4.32 ERA. He leads the team in innings pitched with 50.0. Both Anthony Grillini and Jake Erhard are 3-0 in relief, sporting 1.46 and 2.16 ERAs respectively.
Binghamton is coached by Tim Sinicki (Western Carolina '88) who is in his 23rd season. He is assisted by Ryan Hurba (Oswego '96), Dan Jurik (St. John Fisher '10) and Ed Folli (Springfield '73).
MAINE AND BINGHAMTONALL-TIME: Maine and Binghamton have met 53 times with the Black Bears holding a 29-24 lead in the all-time series. Binghamton has won three straight games, including a 6-3 win last year in the 2014 America East Tournament. The Bearcats won three of the four games played between the two schools last season.
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(.)
