ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine baseball team opens the home portion of its schedule this weekend with a three-game America East series against the University of Albany at Mahaney Diamond. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 12 p.m. while Sunday's contest is set for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
 

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Series Information
Maine Black Bears vs. UAlbany Great Danes
DATE: Saturday, March 31, 2018-Sunday, April 1, 2018
SITE: Orono, Maine | Mahaney Diamond
2018 Records: Maine 5-19 (1-2 AE), UAlbany 9-8 (1-2 AE)

Maine game notes
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What's on Tap
• The Black Bears will take to Mahaney Diamond for this first time this season when the Great Danes visit for three games.
• Maine, UAlbany and Binghamton are currently tied for fifth in the America East Standings.

Last Time Out
• Mane opened up conference play with a three-game series at Hartford last weekend, going 1-2 at Fiondella Field.
• In Friday's game, Maine jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning but the Hawks used a four-run seventh to complete a comeback for a 5-3.
• Both squads finished with eight hits, with Jeremy Pena collecting two hits and one run scored while Hernen Sardinas had one hit and two RBIs.
• On Saturday, Maine put six runs on the board in the second game of an America East doubleheader to win 6-1 and avenge a 1-0 loss in the first game.
• In the win, four Black Bears finished with multiple hits, including Christopher Bec with three; Maine had 11 hits to Hartford's four.
• Brandon Vicens and Pena both registered triples on the weekend.

The Black Bears, In Brief
• Maine wrapped up its Spring Break trip with a four-game series at New Mexico State University, going 0-4 in the non-conference series.
• Danny Casals led Maine with eight hits in the series and nine RBIs while he also scored four runs and had three home runs; Casals had a .471 BA, 1.059 slugging percentage and .526 on-base percentage in the four-game set.
• Five players had five hits in the series, including Hernen Sardinas and Jeremy Pena who each knocked two doubles and earned four walks; Pena and Cody Pasic also had triples in the series and each scored five runs.
• Maine played a two-game series mid-break at University of the Incarnate Word, getting edge on March 13, 2-0, and losing a heartbreaker on March 14, 9-8, in 10 innings.
• The Black Bears opened up the trip with 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 scored a season-best seven runs and 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.

About UAlbany
• UAlbany played UMass Lowell last weekend in the conference opener for both squads, with the River Hawks taking a pair of games (3-2, 1-0) and the Great Danes getting one (1-0).
• UAlbany hosted UMass on Tuesday in its 2018 home opener, dropping the game 8-2.
• The Great Danes, who are 8-5 on the road this season, were picked to finish fourth in the America East Preseason Coaches Poll.
• UAlbany returned six of its seven players that earned All-Conference recognition in 2017, including first team picks Dominic Savino and Connor Powers.
• Powers leads the team with a .279 batting average, 17 hits, 14 RBIs and a .574 slugging percentage.
• Savino is currently 3-0 on the mount in five starts – including two complete games – while holding opponents to a .267 batting average.

Series History vs. UAlbany
• Maine enters Saturday's doubleheader with an edge of 40-35 in the all-time series with UAlbany.
• The squads first battled in 2002, with Maine earning a 14-6 win at home.
• The Black Bears and Great Danes met five times in the 2017 season, with Maine going 2-3;
• UAlbany had 7-6 and 3-2 (10) wins at home before Maine took a 2-1 ballgame at Mahaney Diamond in the final regular season contest; the teams then battled twice in the conference tournament, with Maine falling in the opener, 3-0, before winning the semifinal, 12-5, to eliminate UAlbany.
• Maine's longest win-streak in the series is six games between the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

Stat Check
• Jeremy Pena leads Maine in batting average (.287), hits (29), and doubles (6) while Danny Casals is tops in slugging percentage (.479), RBIs (16), home runs (4) and on-base percentage (.416).
• Pena and Brandon Vicens have two triples each, while Pena and Hernen Sardinas are both second on the squad with 12 RBIs.
• Pena is tied for the league lead in hits (29), triples (2) and sits tied fourth in runs scored (18).
• Jonathan Bennett has earned 16 walks on the year, good for first in America East.
• Kevin Doody's four sacrifice bunts ties for the conference lead while his seven stolen bases rank third.

Reaching Safely
• Hernen Sardinas and Jeremy Pena have each reached base safely in eight consecutive contests entering Saturday.
• Pena has 13 hits in that eight game span, including two triples and two doubles, while Sardinas has nine hits, including three doubles and one home run.
•Brandon Vicens has a hit in the last six games and Kevin Doody has reached base safely in the last five.

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.

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.

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