ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine baseball team will make the final stop on its Spring Break trip this weekend in Las Cruces, N.M. to take on the Aggies of New Mexico State University.
 

WATCH

LISTEN: WGUY 1230AM

LIVE STATS

TWITTER UPDATES

Series Information
Maine Black Bears at New Mexico State Aggies
DATE: Friday, March 16, 2018-Sunday, March 18, 2018
SITE: Las Cruces, N.M. | Presley Askew Field
2018 Records: Maine 4-13, NM State 9-8
--------------
Probable Starters
Game 1 (6:00 p.m., Friday, March 16): (RHP Zach Winn, 0-0, 1.59) | NM State (RHP Kyle Bradish, 2-1, 1.14)
Game 2 (2:00 p.m., Saturday, March 17): (RHP Nick Silva 1-2, 8.04) | NM State (RHP Justin Dehn, 2-1, 4.63)
Game 3 (*6:00 p.m., Saturday, March 17): (LHP Eddie Emerson, 0-1, 5.29) | NM State (LHP Alex Pinedo, 0-1, 1.50)
Game 4 (2:00 p.m., Sunday, March 18): (RHP Chris Murphy, 0-4, 16.78) | NM State (LHP Jonathan Groff, 3-1, 3.09)

Maine game notes

What's on Tap
• The University of Maine and New Mexico State University will meet for the second time in two years with a four-game non-conference series this weekend in Las Cruces, N.M.

Last Time(s) Out
• The Black Bears are coming off a two-game series at University of the Incarnate Word, getting edge on Tuesday, 2-0, and losing a heartbreaker on Wednesday, 9-8, in 10 innings.
• Alex McKenney went five innings in his first career start, allowing just two earned runs on seven hits; Jonathan Bennett, Brandon Vicens, and Cody Pasic registered hits.
• On Wednesday, Maine faced a four-run deficit after two innings but tied it up in the sixth and then overcame a two-run hole in the ninth on a Kevin Doody double to go up by one.
• UIW mounted its own comeback in the bottom of the ninth, though, tying it up with a double of its own before winning the four-hour affair on a walk off pass ball in the 10th.
• Jeremy Pena finished with four hits, three RBIs and one run scored while Hernen Sardinas, Colin Ridley and Pasic each  had two hits for Maine, with Sardinas and Pasic also scoring twice.
• As a team, Maine tied a season-high with 13 hits.

The Black Bears, In Brief
• UMaine played a four-game series at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley last weekend, going 1-3 in the non-conference games; UTRGV edged Maine, 4-3, on Friday, in a game that had entered the ninth inning tied 3-3; Maine won the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, 7-5, in extra innings but fell, 12-1, in the second half of the doubleheader.
• The team smacked 11 hits in the win on Saturday, the third highest total on the season for the Black Bears, while scoring a season-best seven runs; despite out-hitting the Vaqueros 7-3 and the pitchers holding them to a season-low hits total on Sunday, the Black Bears fell by a 7-3 score in the series finale.
• Jeremy Pena leads Maine with his .278 batting average,.458 slugging percentage, 10 RBIs, 20 hits and is tied with Hernen Sardinas for the team-lead in home runs with three.
• Sardinas is second in hits with 18 while seven Black Bears total have at least 11 hits.
• Maine had a season-high 13 hits at then-No. 24 Miami on March 3 and also earned 11 walks in that game.
• Maine opened up the season against No. 3 Texas Tech, dropping all four games at Rip Griffin Stadium; all 10 of Maine's batters that weekend reach base at least once while nine out of 10 had at least one hit.

About New Mexico State
• The Aggies are coming off a five-game non-conference road trip, going 0-2 against Mississippi State and 1-3 against Alabama to enter the weekend 9-8 overall.
• Noah Haupt leads the team with a .471 batting average and a .824 slugging percentage while Mason Fishback has a team-high 27 hits and 26 RBIs on the back of a team-best 10 doubles.
• NM State is second in the NCAA in OBP (.444) and scoring (10.4) and eighth in hits (192).
• The Aggies boast an 8-2 record at home.
• Brian Green is in his fourth year has head coach of the Aggies, who were picked to finish second overall in the Western Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Mason Fishback and Kyle Bradish were named the WAC Preseason Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, and are coming off First Team All-WAC honors in 2017.

Series History vs. New Mexico State
• Maine and New Mexico State both enter Friday's contest with 2-2 records in the all-time series after a split in a four-game series during the 2016 season (Feb. 26-28).
• The Black Bears took the first game (3-1) and last game (13-3) of that series, with the Aggies taking the Saturday doubleheader (7-3. 3-2).
• Justin Courtney pitched seven innings to earn the win in the 3-1 game while Nick Silva earned the win in the 13-3 game.

Bec Named to 2018 Johnny Bench Award Watch List
• Senior catcher Christopher Bec was named to the 2018 Johnny Bench Award watch list on March 6.
• Bec was the only America East player named to the watch list for the award, which is given annually to the top collegiate catcher in Division I baseball.
• The Miami native was one of three Black Bears to play in all 54 games last season and led the team with a .340 batting average, .426 on-base percentage, 20 doubles, 30 walks earned and 21 steals.

Silva Earns Maine's Third-Straight AE Pitcher of the Week Honor
• Nick Silva was tabbed as the America East Pitcher of the Week on March 13 after he led Maine to a 7-5 victory over UTRGV on March 10, giving Maine the league's Pitcher of the Week honor for the third-straight week following the previous two by Justin Courtney.
• Silva pitched five innings in relief, allowing just one run on five hits while striking out nine and walking zero.
• The Miami, Fla. native struck out seven of the 21 batters he faced while looking.
• The weekly award is the fourth of Silva's career: Pitcher of the Week (2/21/17; 2/28/17); Rookie of the Week (5/3/16).

Courtney Tabbed AE Pitcher of the Week…Again!
• Justin Courtney was named the America East Pitcher of the Week on March 6 for the second week in a row after his performance against Miami on March 3.
• Courtney pitched six innings – no-hitting the Hurricanes through five – giving up just one hit, striking out six and walking three in 80 pitches.
• Courtney also earned the honor last week after he helped shut down Ohio University and lead the Black Bears to a 5-1 victory on Feb. 23.
• The senior 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.
• Courtney now has six career weekly honors, with five Pitcher of the Week (5/4/15; 2/23/16; 4/11/17; 2/27/18; 3/6/18) and one Rookie of the Week (5/18/15).

Bennett Named AE Player of the Week
• Senior Jonathan Bennett earned his first career America East weekly honor on March 6 after going 5-for-13 (.385) with two RBIS and three runs scored in Maine's series at Miami.
• In addition to driving in the winning run in Maine's 6-1 win over Miami on March 2, he also earned two walks and scored two runs in a 15-inning thriller on March 3 and scored a run for the Black Bears on March 4.

Black Bear Rewind
• Maine 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.
• Christopher 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).
• Hernen 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 Cody Laweryson earned a spot after posting a 4-2 record with a 3.55 ERA in 33.0 innings pitched and 33 strikeouts on the mound.

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 13 of 17 games this season, including a season-high five on Feb. 24 against Ohio University.
• Jeremy Pena has four doubles on the year while Caleb Kerbs, Brandon Vicens and Cody Pasic have three doubles on the year.
• 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 canceled seasons, with UMaine not fielding teams in 1892 and 1944.
• Head coach Nick Derba is the 25th coach in the history of the program.

-UMaine-