ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine baseball team will take on the Monmouth University Hawks and Sacred Heart University Pioneers this weekend. The Black Bears will play two games on Friday, facing on the Pioneers at 12 p.m. and then playing the host-Hawks at 3:00 p.m. On Saturday, Maine will play a 12 p.m. game against the Hawks.

Originally, Maine was set to play one game against Monmouth on Friday and then a twin bill against the squads on Saturday, but the games have been moved up due to inclement weather.
 

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Series Information
Maine Black Bears vs. Sacred Heart Pioneers
DATE: Friday, April 13, 2018
Maine Black Bears at Monmouth Hawks
DATE: Friday, April 13, 2018 | Saturday, April 14, 2018

SITE: West Long Branch, N.J. | MU Baseball Field
2018 Records: Maine 9-21, Monmouth 10-18, Sacred Heart 8-17
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Probable Starters
Game 1 (12 p.m., Friday, April 13): Maine (RHP Zach Winn, 1-0) | Sacred Heart (TBD)
Game 2 (-3 p.m., Friday, April 13): Maine (RHP John Arel, 3-0) | Monmouth (RHP Ricky Dennis, 2-5)
Game 3 (12 p.m., Saturday, April 14): Maine (RHP Nick Silva, 2-3) | Monmouth (RHP Joe Molettier, 0-4 or RHP John Martin, 0-0)

What's on Tap
• Maine takes a break from conference play this weekend to play two games against Monmouth (MAAC) and one against Sacred Heart (NEC).
 
Last Time Out
• Maine hosted Stony Brook last weekend, splitting Saturday's doubleheader and dropping Sunday's single game.
• The Black Bears fell in the first game of the twin bill, 4-1, but came back for a win in the second game, 4-2.
• Colin Ridley finished with three hits, two RBIs and one run scored on the day while Jonathan Bennett, Danny Casals and Kevin Doody each had two hits. The Black Bears collected six hits in each game for a doubleheader total of 12.
• Eddie Emerson started for Maine in game one, going 6.1 innings while allowing two runs on four hits, striking out four and walking none; in his third win of the year, John Arel pitched 6.0 innings in game two, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out five and walking two
• A three-run first inning helped Stony Brook to the 5-2 win on Sunday; Cody Laweryson was strong in relief for Maine, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing just one hit, striking out five and walking none.
 
The Black Bears, In Brief
• Maine swept UAlbany in its home opening weekend, winning all three America East games at Mahaney Diamond, March 31-April 1.
• Maine took the doubleheader with 10-2 and 4-1 wins before exploding for a 17-1 win on April 1, with Nick Silva pitching strong innings for the win.
• Six Black Bears had multi-hit games, with Christopher Bec smacking five and knocking in four and scoring four; Jeremy Pena and Danny Casals each had three hits and scored four runs.
• Maine opened up conference play with a three-game series at Hartford March 23-24, going 1-2 at Fiondella Field.
• The Black Bears endured a tough Spring Break trip March 9-18, playing 10 games over the nine-day trip and going 1-9 against University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (1-3), University of the Incarnate Word (0-2) and New Mexico State University (0-4).
 
About Monmouth
• Monmouth has had a busy week, dropping a three-game series at Quinnipiac (8-3, 4-3, 4-3) on Saturday and Sunday and topping Penn (3-1) on Tuesday and Columbia (9-3) on Wednesday to enter the weekend with an overall record of 10-18.
• The Hawks have played one other America East team this season, topping UMBC, 17-5, in a neutral site contest on Feb. 25.
• Kyle Norman leads Monmouth with a .314 average and is second with a .438 slugging percentage and a .425 on-base percentage; he's drawn 19 walks on the season.
• Five players for Monmouth have at least five doubles, with Norman and Pete Papcun each at eight.
• The Hawks were selected fifth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches Poll.
 
Series History vs. Monmouth
• Maine enters Friday's contest with an overall record of 8-4 against Monmouth.
• The squads first met in 1989 with Maine topping Monmouth, 10-2, in the ECAC Tournament.
• They last played in 2008, with the Hawks winning a neutral site contest, 7-4.
 
About Sacred Heart
• The Pioneers bring an overall record of 8-17 into Friday's contest after falling at Yale on Wednesday, 5-2.
• Dan Schock has a .333 average through all 25 games and leads the team in RBIs (24), home runs (6), doubles (6), triples (2), and runs scored (16); Matt Sorento sports a .483 average through 11 games played.
• The Pioneers have five players with at least 10 RBIs each and six players with at least 10 runs scored.
• Sacred Heart played AE school Stony Brook in a February neutral site contest, falling 7-6.
• Catcher Cody Doyle was named to the Johnny Bench Award Watch List.
 
Series History vs. Sacred Heart
• Maine takes an edge of 3-2 in the all-time series against Sacred Heart into Friday's game.
• The Pioneers and Black Bears first met in 2005, with Maine winning a neutral site tilt, 10-0.
• The last time the teams met, in 2008, they split a four-game series; Maine dropped the first two (1-4, 4-7) before winning the last two (11-2, 5-3).
 
Stat Check
• Danny Casals leads Maine with a .281 average, .461 slugging percentage, .421 on-base percentage, 20 RBIs and four home runs.
• Jeremy Pena is tops in hits (34), triples (3), and runs scored (25) and second in slugging percentage (.451).
• Hernen Sardinas and Cody Pasic are tied for the team lead in doubles (7).
• Jonathan Bennett and Casals have each earned 20 walks on the year, which ties them for second in the conference.
• Kevin Doody's eight sacrifice bunts leads the America East.
 
Hitting Streak
• Jonathan Bennett carries a six-game hitting streak into Friday.
• It's the second six-game streak on the season for the senior.
• Jeremy Pena and Brandon Vicens have both had team-long, eight-game streaks this season.
 
Big Day for Bec and the Black Bears
• Against UAlbany on April 1, Christopher Bec drove in four runs and had five of the team's 18 hits on the day – including two home runs – in the 17-1 win.
• The hits tally was the most for the Black Bears since collecting 21 in an 18-10 win at Lafayette on April 30, 2015.
• It was Maine's first two home run game since Kevin Stypulkowski did it in a game at Binghamton on May 21, 2016.
• Bec's five hits were the most for a Black Bear in a single game since Sam Balzano had five against UMBC on April 13, 2013.
• Seven of Maine's runs were scored with two outs.
 
Bec Named to 2018 Johnny Bench Award Watch List
• Catcher Christopher Bec was named to the 2018 Johnny Bench Award watch list on March 6.
• The senior 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.
 
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.
 
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 fullback appeared in six games this year for the Black Bears to go with his nine appearances during the 2016 season.
 
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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