ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears continue play in Delray Beach in the final weekend of the Delray Invitational, facing UMass at Little Fenway for a three game series, after traveling to Boca Raton on Wednesday evening and falling to FAU 11-3. UMass on the young season has only seen three games thusfar, and comes in with an 0-3 record.
Last Time Out
The Black Bears looked to bounce back from a heartbreaking walk-off loss to St. Bonaventure when they traveled to Boca Raton on Wednesday night to face the Florida Atlantic Owls, but the game got out of hand with three Maine errors and 10 Maine walks, as the Owls stunned the Black Bears, 11-3. Maine got a run in the first inning on an RBI ground-out by Chris Bec, to give Maine a 1-0 lead. FAU would answer back in the second inning to lead 3-1, and would shut Maine out until the sixth when they scored on a
Danny Casals RBI single, but the Owls had scored three more by the end of the sixth for a 6-2 lead. Maine got one more in the eighth when Casals scored on a passed ball, but a five-run seventh sealed the victory for FAU.
Chris Murphy had his first start of the year cut short as he went only 2.1 innings, allowing three earned runs and walking three, but striking out two.
Maine So Far
Maine has now dipped just below .500 with a 5-6 record, with 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, eight RBIs, and .353 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 .256 batting average and a team-high .420 OBP. The pitching staff so far 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, who will get starts against UMass this weekend.
Scouting the Minutemen
The Minutemen started their season at the beginning of March and have played only one series so far, as they were swept by Elon in North Carolina, losing by scores of 4-3, 3-0, and 5-1. So far on the young season they are led by Brett Evangelista who leads the team in hits with four, and batting average with .364. The Minutemen have three RBIs on the season thusfar, being tallied by Cooper Mrowka, Nolan Kessinger, and Ryan Lever. On the mound last weekend, UMass saw starts from Justin Lasko (who leads the team in ERA with 1.29, 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 4 BB, 4Ks), Mike Geannelis, (2.57 ERA, 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 BB, 9 Ks) and Brooks Knapek (3.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 3 BB, team-high 10 Ks).
-UMaine-
