ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears will travel down to Del Ray, Florida this weekend to face off against the Central Connecticut Blue Devils and South Dakota State Jackrabbits in four total games this weekend. The Black Bears will face CCSU on Friday, SDSU on Saturday, and a double header playing both teams on Sunday.

Scouting the Black Bears
Maine is coming off a tough sweep at Winthrop which opened their season with an 0-3. While pitching was not a strong point for Maine in the first two games, America East Pitcher of the Week Nick Silva and Freshman pitcher Trevor DeLaite came up big in game three going a combined 7.0 innings; Silva struck out five, walked five, allowed one earned run on four hits, while DeLaite went one full inning retiring all three batters with a strikeout to keep a Black Bear lead. Maine is led by Sophomore Danny Casals with a team-high five hits and a team-high .500 batting avg. Jonathan Bennett has batted three runs in this season, the most by a single player so far this season. The Black Bears will look to start the same three pitchers as last weekend: Justin Courtney (4.0 IP, 6 hits, 6 ER, 4 walks, 4 K's, L in start against Winthrop), Jonah Normandeau (5.1 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 4 walks, 3 K's, L in start against Winthrop), Nick Silva (6.0 IP 4 hits, 1ER,  5 walks, 5 K's, 1.50 ERA, ND in start against Winthrop), and the fourth game they will start Trevor DeLaite (1.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 ER, 1 K in relief against Winthrop (3 BF)).

Scouting the Blue Devils
CCSU is coming into this matchup with only one game on the record this season, a 3-2 victory over Holy Cross, a game that went to the bottom of the ninth inning with a 3-0 CCSU lead, when a late rally by Holy Cross would cut the lead to one run, with CCSU pitcher Stanley Wolpiuk came into the game to get the final out with two runners on, saving the game for Central Connecticut. The Blue Devils are led by first baseman Terry Bowens, who leads the team with two hits and a .500 batting average. Three other players, Tyler Coleman, Dean Lockery, and Buddy Dewaine each have an RBI. Starter Andy Hinckley got the win for CCSU, going 5.0 innings, allowing only one hit, and striking out seven.

Scouting the Jackrabbits
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits come into the weekend with a 2-0 record with victories over Northern Illinois (7-2, Hanson W) and Chicago State (3-1, Froom W). They are led by Landon Badger in hits with four and RBI's with three. Jake Thompson went 2-3 in one game played for a team-high .667 batting avg. The Jackrabbits look to start Austin Kost, (0-0, 3.86 ERA, 1 GS, 4.2 IP, 5 K, 2 BB), Ryan Froom (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 7.0 IP, 5 K, 0 BB), and seeing their first action this year, Ethan Kenkel,(2-3, 7.39 ERA, 2 GS, 28.0 IP, 24 K, 17 BB in 2016) and Brady Stover (first season).
 

2017 Season Stats
CATEGORY	Maine	CCSU	SDSU
RECORD	0-3	1-0	2-0
BATTING AVG.	.224	.161	.313
ON BASE PERCENTAGE	.304	.289	.388
RBI	9	3	9
HOME RUNS	0	0	0
EXTRA BASE HITS	5	2	6
OPPONENT BATTING AVG.	.302	.188	.131
ERA	9.00	2.00	1.00
STRIKEOUTS	18	12	15
WALKS	19	0	6
SAVES	0	1	1

 

2017 Category Leaders	Maine	CCSU	SDSU
HITS	Two Players (5)	Bowens (2)	Badger (4)
RBI	J. Bennett (3)	Three Players (1)	Badger (3)
HR	0	0	0
AVG.	D. Casals (.500)	Bowens (.500)	Thompson (.667)
WINS	0	Hinckley (1)	Two Players (1)
ERA	N. Silva (1.50)	Three Players (0.00)	Three Players (0.00)
SAVES	0	Wolpiuk (1)	Halbur (1)

-UMaine-