ORONO, MAINE -- The University of Maine baseball is back in action on Friday, when the Black Bears travel to Lynchburg, Virginia to face the Liberty Flames for the first of a three-game series. The first pitch on Friday is set for 3:00 p.m., Saturday's contest will begin at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday's finale will have a 1:00 p.m. start. Saturday and Sunday's contest will be available to watch on ESPN+, while all three games can be heard on the radio waves with Jim Churchill on the call. Friday's and Sunday's game can be heard in full on WGUY 96.1 FM and goblackbears.com, while Saturday's matchup can be heard only on goblackbears.com and will switch to 96.1 FM when the women's basketball game against Binghamton commences.
 
Series Information
Maine Black Bears at Liberty Flames
DATES: March 1-3
SITE: Lynchburg, Va. | Liberty Baseball Stadium
Records: Maine 0-7, Liberty 5-3

Probable Rotation
Game 1: Maine RHP Peter Kemble | Liberty RHP Andrew McInvale
Game 2: Maine RHP Matthew Pushard | Liberty LHP Joe Adametz
Game 3: Maine RHP Nick Silva | Liberty RHP Noah Skirrow          
 

Maine Black Bears (0-7) at Liberty Flames (5-3)
Friday, March 1	WGUY 96.1 FM | Live Stats
Saturday March 2	ESPN+ | WGUY 96.1 FM | Live Stats
Sunday, March 3	ESPN+ | WGUY 96.1 FM | Live Stats
Game Notes	Maine (PDF)
Twitter	@MaineBaseball | #BlackBearNation | #AEBASE

Terrapins Take Three
• Big 10 Maryland earned wins in all three games against the Black Bears, earning 4-0 and 5-3 wins in a double-header on Fri. Feb. 22, while completing the sweep with a 9-6 victory on Sun. Feb. 24.
• Maryland got a head early, scoring at least a single run in the first inning of all three contests.
• The Black Bears scored all nine of their runs in the series from the fifth inning on, as Maine scored six consecutive runs in game three of the series to knot the game at 6-6, but three runs in the bottom of the eighth for Maryland led the Terps to the sweep.
• Colin Ridley recorded five hits on the weekend, including a solo home run and a double in the series as he batted .455 and had a slugging percentage of .818 in three games.
• Caleb Kerbs posted a team-high on-base percentage of .583, as three hits, two walks and two hit-by-pitches put the redshirt senior on the basepaths eight times in eight official at bats.
• Joe Bramanti smacked his first career home run in the series finale on Sunday, a three-run shot to right in the sixth inning to cut the Maryland lead to 6-4. He finished the weekend with a .364 batting average, tallying at least one hit in each of his last four games. He led Maine with four RBIs on the series.
 
Maine's Opening Series
• The Black Bears were swept by No. 6 FSU in the opening series last week, as a walk-off in game three and a big seventh inning in game four prevented an upset by the Black Bears.
• Maine led 5-2 in the fourth inning of game three after a Jake Roper grand slam on his first collegiate-hit, as FSU added a run in the fourth, and sixth before walking-off in the seventh inning of the shortened contest to win 6-5.
• In the series finale, Nick Silva exited the contest after the first inning due to injury, as freshman Nicholas Sinacola made his collegiate debut by not allowing FSU a hit in five innings pitched. The Seminoles would score seven runs in the seventh inning after Sinacola left the mound to win 9-1.
 
About Liberty
•  The Flames are 5-3 on the season, taking a game from South Carolina in a three game series, defeating Wake Forest in a single game, while sweeping Delaware and falling to Tennessee in a single game on Tuesday.
• The Flames were eliminated by eventual Big South Champion Campell in conference tournament.
•  Liberty is now in the Atlantic Sun Conference, where Liberty was picked to finish third.
• Four Flames return that earned Big South all-conference honors (3B Tyler Galazin, RHP Garrett Price, Util Jonathan Embry and SS Cam Locklear)
• Will Wagner leads the squad in batting average (.414), hits (12), home runs (1), RBIs (5).
•Noah Skirrow, Liberty's game three starter has a 1.29 era on the season, allowing just two runs in 14 innings pitched, striking out 20, while walking just a single batter.
 
The All-Time Series
• Maine and Liberty have met once prior to this weekend, when the Flames earned a tight 7-6 win.
 
Young Talent
• Several freshmen Black Bears have impressed through seven games this season.
• Freshman RHP Nicholas Sinacola earned the first America East Rookie of the Week of the season after not allowing a hit over the course of five innings against Florida State on Feb 17. Coming in from the bullpen in the second inning, the native of North Attleboro Mass, struck out a Seminole every inning, facing just one batter over the minimum, walking just two before exiting the contest after the sixth inning. In his first career start against Maryland, he allowed three earned runs on three hits, three walks and three strike outs in 3.1 innings pitched
• Jake Roper hit a grand slam on his first collegiate hit against Florida State on Feb. 16 against FSU. He totaled two hits and an RBI against Maryland
• Freshman Catcher Ryan Turenne is batting .444 on the season, with a team-high 1.167 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). Two of his four hits have come on doubles, as he nearly smacked his first home run against Maryland.
 
Divine DeLaite
• Tervor DeLaite has dazzled opposing batters this season, with lefties batting .083 (1/12) against him and righties hitting at a .118 (2/17) clip. He has not allowed a single hit with runners on base (0/14)
• He has struck out 14 batters in 8.2 innings pitched, allowing just three hits two runs and two walks.
• The lone run he gave up came on a solo home run against Maryland.
 
Back in Business
• 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.
• He drove in Maine's first runs on a two-run double in the second game against FSU.
• He added a second double in the bottom of the ninth and registered a single in the finale against the Seminoles.
• Against Maryland, Kerbs batted .375, collecting three hits scoring two runs. He walked twice, got hit by a pitch twice to earn an inmpressive .583 on base percentage for the series.
• For more information on his journey, visit goblackbears.com
 
Hard Hittin' Hernen
• The Miami native registered a clutch RBI against Maryland last Sunday, an RBI single to tie the contest up against the Terpsat 6-6. Maine scored six consecutive runs after Maryland led 6-0 after two innings.
• Sardinas tallied three hits in Maine's second game against FSU.
• The junior landed on the America East second team in 2018 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.
 
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 (3rd round. 102nd overall) and Christopher Bec (5th round, 146th 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.
 
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 25th head coach in program history.
 
 -UMaine-