ORONO, Maine - The No. 5-seeded University of Maine baseball team begins its America East Championship tournament on Wednesday, May 23 when it takes on No. 4 Stony Brook at Mahaney Diamond. The Black Bears - who are looking to make it to the title game for the second consecutive season - are hosting the tournament for the first time since 2004. The University of Maine also hosted America East postseason action in 2002 and 1996.
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Last Time Out
• Maine closed out the regular season with a three-game set against Hartford at Mahaney Diamond, going 1-2 in the series.
• Eight players finished with at least one hit for Maine in Friday's doubleheader;
• In a seesaw, weather shortened affair at Boston College on May 15, the Eagles edged Maine, 9-7; the non-conference contest was called with two outs in the bottom of the eighth due to lightning.
•
Danny Casals finished with three hits, including two home runs, while knocking in three runs and scoring three runs.
Jeremy Pena and
Christopher Bec each had two hits for the Black Bears while
Ben Terwilliger collected two RBIs on his first collegiate home run.
• Last weekend, Maine traveled to UAlbany and swept the Great Danes to clinch a spot in the America East tournament.
• On May 11, Maine used early offensive production en route to 6-5 and 12-5 wins in a doubleheader; the next day, Maine trailed, 7-1, entering the top of the seventh inning but came back to top UAlbany, 8-7, thanks to three runs in the seventh and two each in the eighth and ninth;
Peter Kemble earned his first career win with two innings of work.
• It marked the first time since the 2016 season that the Black Bears won a game when trailing after eight innings.
Series History vs. Stony Brook
• Maine enters Wednesday's game against Stony Brook – the 82th all-time meeting between the two teams – with a record of 32-49 in the all-time series.
• Back in April, Stony Brook came to Orono and took two of three games from the Black Bears;
• Last year, Stony Brook swept Maine in the regular season three-game series but the No. 5-seeded Black Bears topped the No. 3-seeded Seawolves, 3-0, in the America East conference tournament.
• In the tournament win,
Nick Silva pitched 8.2 innings in getting the win, allowing just three hits and striking out 10.
• The Black Bears and Seawolves first met in 2002, with Maine getting a 3-2 at home.
• Maine's longest win-streak in the series is four games during the 2006 season.
Series History vs. Hartford
• Maine and Hartford have met 135 times, with the Black Bears holding an overall record of 93-42 in the series.
• The teams met six times this season, with Maine going 1-2 on the road and 1-2 at Mahaney Diamond; the Black Bears opened conference play at Hartford back in March and wrapped it up this past weekend in Orono.
• Last season, Maine went 3-1, earning a pair of wins at home (1-0, 3-2) and one loss (10-6) before going on to top the team in the conference tournament (2-1).
• Maine and Hartford first met in 1986, with Maine earning a 4-1 win on the road.
Series History vs. UMass Lowell
• Maine enters the tournament with an overall record of 12-5 against UMass Lowell.
• The Black Bears went 1-2 in Lowell this season.
• Maine nearly swept the doubleheader in the series after winning the first game 9-4 and then getting a no-hitter from
John Arel but the River Hawks escaped with a 1-0 win.
• Arel's no-hitter was the first for Maine since the 1987 season when George Goldman did it against Husson.
• The squads first met in 2014 at Lowell, with Maine sweeping the series (5-4, 3-2, 2-1).
• Last season, the teams played six times, with Maine going 4-2.
Series History vs. UMBC
• Maine enters the conference tournament with a record of 42-17 in the all-time series with UMBC.
• The Black Bears played three games in Maryland in April, dropping all three contests.
• The teams played three times in 2017, splitting the first two meetings before clashing in the America East Tournament title game; the Retrievers took that 10-inning contest, 2-1.
• The Black Bears and Retrievers first met during the 2004 season, with Maine sweeping a three-game road series (6-2, 9-1, 10-7).
• Maine started the series with UMBC with five-straight wins and had a 21-game winning streak from 2009-13.
Series History vs. UAlbany
• Maine holds an edge of 46-35 in the all-time series with UAlbany after winning all six games during the regular season.
• 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, coming this season and also a span between the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
Stat Check
•
Jeremy Pena carries a team-high .309 average into the tournament and also leads the team in hits (60), runs scored (47), and triples (5).
• Casals is tops in slugging percentage (.594), on-base percentage (.409), home runs (13), and RBIs (42), with his home runs tying him for first in the league.
• Maine not only has the top single-game hitting performance (26 hits) by an America East team this season but two of the top three overall.
•
Kevin Doody leads the league in sacrifice bunts (10) and is fifth in stolen bases (14), just one behind
Christopher Bec (15) in fourth.
It's Worth Noting…
• With a triple against UAlbany on May 11,
Jeremy Pena became the first Maine player to hit at least five triples in a season since the 2011 season.
• Pena carries a 13-game hitting streak into Wednesday's first game.
• In addition to being the lone catcher in the top 10 in the league in stolen bases, this is the second consecutive season in which
Christopher Bec has stolen 15 bases.
•
Eddie Emerson has struck out at least one batter in all 15 appearances in 2018 while
Trevor DeLaite has registered at least one strikeout in all 12 of his appearances.
Danny Goes Yard
• With two home runs at BC on May 15,
Danny Casals now has 13 home runs on the year.
• In addition to being the first time since 2010 that a Black Bear has double-digit home runs, it's the first time a Maine player has at least 13 home runs in a season since Jon Hambelton did the same in the 2001 season.
• The junior now has three multiple home run games on the season, the first three of his career.
Hittin' Hernen
•
Hernen Sardinas went 7-for-14 (.500) with three doubles, one triple, three runs batted in and five runs scored in Maine's three-game series against UAlbany.
• He was named the America East Player of the Week on May 14 for his performance against the Great Danes.
Big Day for the Black Bear Bats
• At UMass on May 2, Maine exploded for 24 runs on 26 hits, marking the most hits in a game for the Black Bears since collecting 25 at UMBC on April 6, 2012.
• Maine had 14 extra base hits in the 24-5 win, collecting eight home runs, one triple, and five doubles.
• It was Maine's first time with at least five home runs in a game since April 10, 2008 against Husson and it also tied for the second most in an NCAA DI baseball game this season.
• The eight home runs also set a program record, with seven against St. John's in a 1987 game written in the record book as the previous mark.
• Ten players total had at least one hit and eight scored at least one run, while six Black Bears put together multi-hit performances at the plate.
• The Black Bears hit two sets of back-to-back-to-back home runs, with
Christopher Bec,
Danny Casals and
Jonathan Bennett doing it in the second inning and then
Hernen Sardinas, Bec and Casals going yard in the seventh.
• Sardinas finished with six RBIs for Maine's first such game since
Scott Heath drove in seven runs against UMBC on May 16, 2014.
• The 26-hit total gave Maine the highest single-game hit total for an America East team this season – and since the 2016 season - and the Black Bears now own three of the top five.
Back-To-Back-To-Back, Back-To-Back-To-Back
• Twice in Maine's 24-5 win over UMass on May 2, the Black Bears hit back-to-back-to-back home runs.
• In the second inning,
Christopher Bec hit a two-run home run only to be followed up by solo shots from
Danny Casals and
Jonathan Bennett.
• The seventh inning saw
Hernen Sardinas hit Maine's first grand slam of the season and then Bec and Casals collected their third and second home runs of the game.
Bec Goes Beastmode
• At UMass on May 2,
Christopher Bec finished 5-for-6 at the plate, knocking in six runs and scoring five on the strength of three home runs, one double and one single.
• It marked the first time that a Maine player hit three home runs in a game since Justin Leisenheimer did it at UMBC on April 7, 2012.
• It marked the catcher's second multi-home run game of the 2018 season.
• The senior also stole his 10th base of the season and is the only catcher in the league in the top 10 in steals.
Arel's No-No
•
John Arel threw a no-hitter in the second game of Maine's doubleheader at UMass Lowell on April 21 but ended up taking the loss in the seven-inning contest.
• The senior struck out 12 batters on the afternoon while walking three.
• The River Hawks scored the lone run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the third inning.
• Arel retired the final nine batters that he faced, sitting down eight of them with strikeouts.
• It was the program's first no-hitter against a Division I opponent and first for Maine since the 1987 season when George Goldman did it against Husson.
• The complete game effort was also the first of the season for the Black Bears.
• Despite losing the game, Arel's dominance led to his first career America East Pitcher of the Week honor.
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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).
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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).
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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.
The Black Bears, In Brief
• Maine is an experienced squad, boasting eight seniors and seven juniors for 15 upperclassmen among its roster of 28 players.
• Maine was tabbed to finished in second place in the America East Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• Maine returned 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).
• 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.
• In America East Championship tournament play, the Black Bears dropped their opener but earned four straight wins for a berth in the title game where they were edged in extra innings, 2-1, by UMBC.
• It was the first season under the guidance of then interim head coach and now head coach,
Nick Derba.
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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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.
-UMaine-
