ORONO, Maine - For the third straight-straight season, the University of Maine baseball team will travel to Coral Gables, Fla. to take on the University of Miami. The Black Bears will play three games against the Hurricanes, playing single games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The call of Friday's and Sunday's games can be heard on 1230AM WGUY while the call of Saturday's contest will be on 1400AM WCYR. All three can be heard online.
 

WATCH: ACC Network Extra Game 1 Game 2 Game 3

LISTEN: WGUY 1230AM Game 1 Game 3 WCYR 1400AM Game 2

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Series Information
Maine Black Bears at Miami Hurricanes
DATE: Friday, March 2, 2018-Sunday, March 4, 2018
SITE: Coral Gables, Fla. | Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field
2018 Records: Maine 2-6, Miami 3-5
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Probable Starters
Game 1 (7 p.m., Friday, March 2): Maine (RHP Justin Courtney, 1-1, 3.09) | Miami (LHP Jeb Bargfeldt, 1-1, 4.91)
Game 2 (6 p.m., Saturday, March 3): Maine (LHP Eddie Emerson, 0-1, 9.53) | Miami (RHP Greg Veliz, 0-1, 3.24)
Game 3 (11:30 a.m., Sunday, March 4): Maine (RHP Chris Murphy, 0-2, 23.40) | Miami (RHP, Evan McKendry, 1-1, 3.86)

Maine game notes

What's on Tap
• The University of Maine and University of Miami will play a three-game non-conference series this weekend in Coral Gables, Fla.
• This is the third-straight season that the Hurricanes and Black Bears have met.

Last Time Out
• UMaine split a non-conference, neutral site series with MAC school Ohio University last weekend in Emerson, Ga.
• The Black Bers took the first meeting (5-1) behind a strong outing from Justin Courtney and then split Saturday's doubleheader (5-7, 2-1) before falling in the finale on Sunday (2-6).
• Courtney tossed 7.2 innings while yielding just four hits and the one run with nine strikeouts while Trevor DeLaite got the win in the second half of the doubleheader.
• Caleb Kerbs finish the weekend 7-for-16 with three RBIs, one run scored and one stolen base while Jeremy Pena was 6-for-17 with two doubles, two RBIs and one home run.
• Hernen Sardinas had two long balls on the weekend while extending his hit-streak to six games.

The Black Bears, In Brief
• UMaine opened up the season against No. 3 Texas Tech, dropping all four games at Rip Griffin Stadium.
• Jeremy Pena led Maine with five hits and five runs score on the weekend while Jonathan Bennett had a team-high three RBIs.
• All 10 of Maine's batters on the weekend reach base at least once while nine out of 10 had at least one hit.
• 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.
• 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.  

About University of Miami
• Miami enters the weekend series with Maine after playing a Wednesday night contest against Florida Atlantic University, falling 5-4 in the road game to move to 3-5 on the season.
• The Hurricanes entered the FAU game fresh off a 2-0 win over No. 1 Florida.
• Miami opened up the season with two straight wins over Rutgers but then lost four-straight including one each to Rutgers and Missouri and two to Florida.
• The Hurricanes went 31-27 last year but missed out on a 45th-straight NCAA tournament bid after falling to North Carolina in the ACC tournament semifinals.

Series History vs. University of Miami
• Friday's game marks the 80th all-time meeting between the Black Bears and Hurricanes, with Miami holding an all-time record of 13-66-0 against Maine.
• The teams first met in 1976, with Miami topping Maine, 3-1.
• Last year, Miami took the two-game series with 4-3 and 7-2 wins.

Courtney Tabbed AE Pitcher of the Week
• Justin Courtney was named the America East Pitcher of the Week after he helped shut down Ohio University and lead the Black Bears to a 5-1 victory on Feb. 23.
• Courtney, who tossed 7.2 innings while yielding just four hits and the one run with nine strikeouts, retired 13 straight batters from the fourth to eighth inning and he retired the side in five innings overall.
• The Bangor, Maine native has allowed just two walks in 11.2 innings of work this season and sits at 1-1 on the year.
• This marks Courtney's fifth career weekly honor, joining three other Pitcher of the Week honors (5/4/15; 2/23/16; 4/11/17) and one Rookie of the Week accolade (5/18/15).

On the Gridiron
• Outfielder Brandon Vicens not only plays an important role for the baseball team, but he also straps on the pads for the UMaine football team.
• The junior fullback appeared in six games this year for the Black Bears to go with his nine appearances during the 2016 season.

Doubles
• The Black Bears have hit at least one double in six straight games, including a season-high five on Feb. 24 against Ohio University.
• Jeremy Pena leads Maine with three-doubles
• In 2017, Maine smacked at least one double in 48 of 54 games played, with a season-high five coming against Manhattan College on April 15.

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.

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 Chris 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).

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