ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine baseball team will open the 2018 season with a four-game non-league series at No. 3 Texas Tech, beginning with Friday's 2:00 p.m. first pitch. The teams will sandwich single games on Friday and Sunday around a doubleheader on Saturday.

WATCH: Texas Tech TV

LISTEN: 1230AM

LIVE STATS

TWITTER UPDATES

Series Information
Maine at No. 3 Texas Tech
DATE: Friday, Feb. 16-Sunday, Feb. 18
SITE: Rip Griffin Park — Lubbock, Texas
2018 Records: Maine 0-0, Texas Tech 0-0
--------------
Probable Starters
Game 1 (3 p.m., Friday, Feb. 16): Maine (RHP Justin Courtney, 0-0, 0.00) | Texas Tech (RHP Davis Martin, 0-0, 0.00)
Game 2 (1 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 17): Maine (LHP Eddie Emerson, 0-0, 0.00) | Texas Tech (LHP Steven Gingery, 0-0, 0.00)
Game 3 (~5 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 17): Maine (RHP Nick Silva, 0-0, 0.00) | Texas Tech (RHP John McMillon, 0-0, 0.00)
Game 4 (2 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 18): Maine (RHP Chris Murphy, 0-0, 0.00) | Texas Tech (LHP Erikson Lanning, 0-0, 0.00)

Maine game notes

The Black Bears, In Brief
• UMaine was 25-29 last season and finished in sixth place in the America East regular season standings with an 8-12 record before fighting its way to the conference championship game. It was the first season under the guidance of then interim head coach and now head coach, Nick Derba.
• The 25 wins were the most for UMaine in four seasons, and in America East Tournament play, the Black Bears earned four-straight wins for a berth in the title game where they were edge in extra innings, 2-1, by UMBC.
• The Black Bears are an experienced squad, boasting eight seniors and seven juniors for 15 upperclassmen among its roster of 28 players.
• Maine returns three players in Christopher Bec, Jeremy Pena and Brandon Vicens that started all 54 games last season as well as Hernen Sardinas (53 games), Jonathan Bennett (52) and Caleb Kerbs (52).
• Bec earned himself the catcher slot on the America East Second Team after leading the conference with a .360 batting average in the regular season and tying for the lead in doubles (17).
• Sardinas was named to the All-Rookie team at first base after a regular season in which he hit .263 with 15 doubles, two home runs and 21 RBIs while classmate and right-handed relief pitcher Cody Laweryson earned a spot after posting a 4-2 record with a 3.55 ERA in 33.0 innings pitched and 33 strikeouts.  
• Conor Burke returns for his third season with the Black Bears, while John Schiffner returns for his second stint and second year after previously serving as a volunteer assistant during the 2014-15 season.

About Texas Tech
• The Red Raiders enter the 2018 opening weekend receiving top-five preseason rankings from all six major outlets, coming in at No. 3 in three polls and No. 4 and No. 5 in the other two.
• The team went 45-17 last year and earned its second-straight No. 5 national seed for the NCAA Tournament.
• Texas Tech, who returns 22 letterwinners from a 2017 squad, won the Big 12 Championship and was selected to finish first in the 2018 Big 12 preseason poll.
• Notable returners for the Red Raiders include pitcher Steven Gingery (the 2018 Big 12 and National Pitcher of the Year), Josh Jung (the 2018 Big 12 Freshman of the Year and Freshman All-American), Grant Little (Freshman All-American), and Cody Farhat (All-Big 12 First-Team).
• Head coach Tim Tadlock enters his sixth season at the helm of the Red Raiders with an overall record of 194-112.

Series History vs. Texas Tech
• This is the first-ever meeting between the Black Bears and Red Raiders.
• Against Texas Tech's in-state rivals, UMaine is 0-7 all-time against Texas, 1-9 against Texas A&M and 0-2 against Texas Christian University.
• This will be the first series of the season for both teams.

On Offense
• Junior Jeremy Pena tied for the team lead in home runs last year with six and was first in slugging percentage (.491), hits (72), runs scored (39), triples (4) and total bases (111), while sitting second in RBIs (32), batting average (.319) and stolen bases (9).
• Senior Christopher Bec led the squad with his .340 batting average, .426 on base percentage, 15 stolen bases and 20 doubles. He was second in hits (68), slugging percentage (.465), and runs scored (38) and fourth in RBIS (26).
• Senior Jonathan Bennett batted .261 with 26 RBIS, five stolen bases and 12 doubles.

On the Mound
• UMaine returns experienced options in the rotation - the four pitchers with the most starts from a year ago are back - and some newcomers figuring to deepen the relief corps.
• Senior Justin Courtney led the pitching staff with 67 strikeouts and started a team-high 15 games last year, going 4-5 with a 3.92 ERA while walking 33 in 87.1 innings of work.
• Senior Connor Johnson led last year's team with 23 appearances, all in relief, and tied for the team lead in wins (4) while also earning one save.
• Redshirt senior Jonah Normandeau (2-6, 4.36) was second with 12 starts a season ago while also appearing in relief once.
• Junior Nick Silva (2-2, 4.64) finished second on the team with 62 strikeouts in 64.0 innings of work in 2017. He made 11 starts and had four relief appearances
• Four of UMaine's five most used relief pitchers last season are back in Johnson, sophomore Cody Laweryson (4-2, 3.08 1 SV), junior Eddie Emerson (3-0, 4.88) and redshirt senior Zach Winn (0-0, 4.78).

Pena's Prowess
• Last season, Jeremy Pena put together a 19-game hitting streak, beginning with a two-hit outing on April 9 against Hartford and ending with a two-hit outing against UAlbany on May 20.
• It was UMaine's longest streak of the season as well as the longest of Pena's career, besting a five-game mark he earned as a freshman, and the best for Maine since Danny Casals had an 11-game streak in 2016.
• The Black Bears' record for consecutive games with a hit belongs to Brian Seguin, who did it in 27 games straight during the 1990 season.
• During the 19-game streak, Pena had 12 of his 24 team-leading multiple-hit game and hit three of his team-leading six home runs.

The 135th Season
• UMaine is embarking on its 135th season of play with the 2018 season, with the Black Bears first having played during the 1881 season.
• After 134 seasons, UMaine held an overall record of 1958-1579-17 and had made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances and seven College World Series appearances.
• There have been two cancelled seasons, with UMaine not fielding teams in 1892 and 1944.
• Head coach Nick Derba is the 25th coach in the history of the program.

Up Next
• UMaine will play its second series of the season – and last in February – next weekend when it travels to Emerson, Ga. for a neutral-site series with Ohio University.
• The teams will play single games on Friday, Feb. 23 and Sunday, Feb. 25 with a doubleheader taking place on Saturday, Feb. 24.

-UMaine-