ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears are coming off their seventh straight game at Delray Beach and will travel to Boca Raton to face Florida Atlantic University at FAU Baseball Stadium; the Black Bears having their two-game win streak snapped by St. Bonaventure, while the Owls of FAU who are on a two-game winning streak of their own.
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Last Time Out
The Black Bears are coming off a heartbreaking three-run rally by St. Bonaventure in the bottom of the ninth, the Bonnies walking off with a 4-3 victory after Maine led for 3-1 up until the ninth.
Nick Silva for Maine got the start on the mound and held the Bonnies to one run on four hits, striking out four and walking three.
Jeff Gelinas got the loss for Maine as he was unable to retire the game-winning runner with two consecutive Bonnies RBI singles. Maine saw RBIs from
Danny Casals, Chris Bec, and
Jonathan Bennett.
Maine So Far
Maine is at an even .500 with a 5-5 record, all five winnings coming in Delray Beach after an 0-3 start at Winthrop. The Black Bears are led by
Christopher Bec who has a team-high 18 hits, seven RBIs, and .375 batting average.
Jonathan Bennett follows right behind him in the starting line up, and right behind him in the RBI column with six. He touts a .286 batting average and a team-high .457 OBP. The pitching staff has seen starts from a rotation of
Justin Courtney (1-1, 6.46 ERA),
Jonah Normandeau (0-1, 4.86 ERA) and
Nick Silva (1-0 0.95 ERA) each with three starts. In Maine's lone four-game weekend they saw
Trevor DeLaite get the start (0-0, 3.60 ERA). A late addition to the rotation,
Chris Murphy gets his first start of the year against FAU on Wednesday evening.
Scouting the Owls
Florida Atlantic comes into this match up winning three of their last four, including going 2-1 against Illinois at home, and a convincing win on Tuesday evening at Bethune Cookman, 12-6, which included a five-run top of the first for the Owls. Freshman left-fielder Gary Mattis hit a grand slam in that opening inning, and had four more RBIs in the game, including another home run and an RBI single. Tyler Frank has had an incredible season for them so far as he leads the team in his with 26, RBIs with 18, home runs and with four, and a .456 batting average. The Owls look to start Marc Stewart on the mound; in his one previous start, he went 5.0 innings with a 1.80 ERA, allowing two hits, one earned run, three walks and six K's.
-UMaine-
