ORONO, Maine – The University of Maine baseball team opens up its 136
th season this weekend, facing No. 6 Florida State in a four-game series at Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium. Friday (4:00 p.m.) and Sunday will feature single games (1:00 p.m.) against the Seminoles, while Saturday's double-header begins at noon in Tallahassee. All four games can be watched on ACC Digital Extra. Audio streams will be available on goblackbears.com.
Series Information
Maine Black Bears at No. 6 Florida State Seminoles
DATE: Friday, Feb. 15, Saturday Feb. 16 (DH), Sunday Feb. 17
SITE: Tallahassee, Fla | Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium.
2018 Records: Maine 20-34 (12-12 AE), FSU 43-19 (16-13 ACC)
Probable Starters
Game 1: Maine (RHP
Cody Laweryson) | FSU (LHP Drew Parrish)
Game 2: Maine (RHP
Matthew Pushard) | FSU (RHP CJ Van Eyk)
Game 3: Maine (RHP
Peter Kemble) | FSU (RHP Shane Drohan)
Game 4: Maine (RHP
Nick Silva) | FSU (LHP Austin Pollock)
The Bear Facts
• Maine boasts six seniors, six juniors, seven sophomores and 12 freshmen among its roster of 32 players.
• Maine was tabbed to finished in fourth-place in the America East Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• Six Black Bears return in 2019 that have started at least 30 games, including
Hernen Sardinas,
Cody Pasic,
Danny Casals,
Kevin Doody,
Caleb Kerbs and
Colin Ridley.
• The Black Bears return three America East all-conference selections in
Danny Casals (first team),
Hernen Sardinas (second team) and
Matt Geoffrion (all-rookie). Maine had two players drafted in the 2018 MLB draft, with
Jeremy Pena (3
rd round. 102
nd overall) and
Christopher Bec (5
th round, 146
th overall) going within the top 150 picks.
• Maine went 20-34 last season and finished in sixth place in the America East regular season standings with an 12-12 record before fighting its way to day three of the America East Championship after falling in its opening game.
• Head Coach
Nick Derba enters his third season at the helm of the Black Bears, holding a 45-63 overall record. Maine advanced to the America East Championship game in his first season and rallied to make it to day three of the conference tournament a season ago.
About Florida State
• The Seminoles are nationally-ranked in every major poll, ranking sixth in the Baseball America poll, 10
th in the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball polls, and 13
th in the D1baseball.com poll.
• In the ACC Preseason Coaches Poll, Florida State was picked to finish second in the Atlantic Division, earning six of 14 first-place votes.
• Florida State went 43-19 a season ago, including a 30-9 mark at home.
• The 2018 ACC Tournament Champions fell to Samford (7-6) and Mississippi State (3-2) in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional to end its season.
• Several All-ACC performers return for FSU, including first-team all-conference LHP Drew Parrish, ACC third-team 3B Drew Mendoza and ACC all-rookie RHP CJ Van Eyk. Parrish and Eyk will pitch the first two games for FSU.
• Mike Martin, the head coach of Florida State, enters his 40
th and final season in 2019. Martin is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I baseball, owning a career-record of 1987-713-4. The Seminoles have made 41 consecutive postseason appearances, winning at least 41 games in every season.
Series History vs. Florida State
• Maine and Florida State have met nine times previously, with the Seminoles winning taking all nine contests.
• The two teams first met in 1988, with the Seminoles prevailing 4-2 at the Pillsbury Tournament in Minneapolis, Minn.
• The two squads met in 1996 for a three-game series and in 2011 for a two-games. Maine and FSU last met in 2012 for a three- game series at Dick Howser Stadium.
• The last time Maine defeated an ACC team was March 2, 2018 when the Black Bears defeated the Miami Hurricanes in the opening game of the series by a score of 6-1
Colossus of Casals
• In 2018,
Danny Casals led the America East in home runs (14), runs batted in (49), while ranking in the top 10 in slugging percentage (3
rd, .593), walks (5
th, 32), on-base percentage (.405) and runs scored (40)
• His 14 home runs ranked tied for seventh in a single season at Maine, tied with Gary Taylor and (1991) and Rex Turner (1997).
• He was a unanimous selection to the America East all-conference first team for his selection
Hard Hitting Hernen
• Junior
Hernen Sardinas landed on the America East second team after batting .308, leading Maine in hits (66) and doubles (17).
• He split time between the outfield and first base a season ago.
• The Miami native had 18-mulit hit games.
From the 'Pen to the Rotation
•
Cody Laweryson will make the jump from the bullpen to the starting rotation to pitch Maine's first game against Florida State.
• Laweryson made the second-most appearances for Maine last season (21), striking out 52 batters in 52.2 innings pitched, walking just nine in 225 batters faced.
• Laweryson made four starts a season ago and five in his collegiate career.
• The native of Bingham, Maine led the Black Bears to a 3-1 victory against future America East Champion Hartford on May 18. He made the start, pitching six innings, while allowing just two hits and a single run in a second-game of a double header seven-inning. contest at Mahaney Diamond.
Strike Out the Stigma
• On May 16, 2018, now redshirt senior
Caleb Kerbs was diagnosed with non-seminoma testicular cancer.
• Kerbs missed the rest of the season, undergoing surgery on May 25.
• For more information, click
here.
Two G.O.A.T.S., One Hall
• On Dec. 2, 2018, Assistant Coach
John Schiffner and UMaine alumnus Mark Sweeney were both inducted into the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame.
• Schiffner is the winningest manager in Cape Cod League History, coaching the Chatham, A's/Anglers to 541 regular season wins and 16 playoff appearances. He has coached 39 first round picks and over 125 of his former players have reached the big leagues, including Evan Longoria, Andrew Miller, Kris Bryant, and Todd Frazier. Head Coach
Nick Derba played for Schiffner from 2004 to 2006 for the Anglers.
• Mark Sweeney, a 14-year MLB vet, played for seven different teams, ranking second all-time in MLB history with 175 career pinch hits and first all-time with 102 pinch hit RBIs. He still holds 21 school records at UMaine, including, career hits (328), career doubles (66), career home runs (52), career RBIs (211), total bases (568), slugging percentage (.663). He earned All-America honors in. 1988, 1990. And 1991. He was inducted to the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. Sweeney led the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox to back-to-back Cape Cod league titles in 1989 and 1990, earning Cape Cod Playoff MVP honors in 1989.
Legends Weekend
• Maine will welcome back and honor the 1991 team on to campus on the weekend of April 20-21 when Maine takes on UMass in a four-game non-conference series.
• The 1991 Black Bears baseball team set a school record with 48 wins, winning the America East and ECAC championship. The 1991 Black Bears hosted the most recent NCAA Regional at Mahaney Diamond, falling in the title game to Clemson. Sweeney earned the America East Player of the Year after hitting .387 with a .644 slugging percentage. Larry Thomas was selected as the America East Pitcher of the Year, striking out a school record 108 batters in just 99.1 innings pitched. Both Sweeney and Thomas were elected as All-Americans following the season.
• Maine Softball will honor the ECAC champion 1984 and 1987 teams that same weekend.
The 136th Season
• UMaine is embarking on its 136th season of play with the 2019 season, with the Black Bears first having played during the 1881 season.
• After 135 seasons, UMaine held an overall record of 1978-1579-17 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.
•
Nick Derba is the 25
th head coach in program history.
-UMaine-
