ORONO, Maine – The nation's second toughest schedule continues this weekend, as the University of Maine baseball team will head to Samford (12-4) for a three-game swing to begin its spring break trip. All three contests will be broadcasted online on ESPN 3.
Series Information
Maine Black Bears at Samford Bulldogs
DATES: March 15-17
SITE: Birmingham
, Ala. | Joe Lee Griffin Field
Records: Maine 0-13, Samford 12-4
Probable Rotation
Game 1: Maine RHP
Nick Silva | Samford LHP Samuel Strickland
Game 2: Maine RHP
Peter Kemble | Samford RHP Jesse McCord
Game 3: Maine RHP
Cody Laweryson | Samford RHP Zach Hester
Mississippi State Series
• After falling in game one 9-2, the Black Bears fell in game two by a score of 5-1, and nearly won game three, falling by just a single runat 9-8 to No. 7 Mississippi State.
• Maine came back from a 6-2 deficit with a five-run sixth inning in game three, taking a 7-6 lead.
• Maine trailed 9-7 at the top of the ninth, and loaded the bases with no outs, but could drive in only one run in the frame.
About Samford
• Samford enters the contest with a 12-4 record. They saw their 10-game winning streak snapped at the hands of No. 1 Vanderbilt on Tuesday night.
• Brooks Carlson leads the Bulldogs and the SoCon with a .433 batting average, is tied for first in the conference in slugging percentage (.717) and is second in on-base percentage (.521).
• Closer Stephen Jones has six saves on the season, a conference best.
• As a team, Samford has a combined .271 batting average and a 4.28 earned run average.
• The Bulldogs were picked to win the SoCon in the both the preseason coaches' poll and the media poll.
Tough Slate
• According to the NCAA, the Black Bears have had the second toughest schedule in the nation, ranking only behind Xavier.
• Maine's opponents have combined for a 51-12 record as of March 14.
• No. 5 Florida State (13-2)
• Maryland (10-5)
• Liberty (12-4)
• No. 7 Mississippi State (16-1)
• Maine's RPI ranks at 169 of 299 despite not holding a win.
• Despite starting 0-13, the 2019 start to the season is not the worst in the program history. In 1996, the Black Bears started 0-22, facing an extremely tough schedule against Clemson, Texas A&M, Rice, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida State and Miami. Maine ended the skid with an 8-1 win over Fordham, and would go 19-13 over their final 33 games on the schedule to finish with a 19-36 overall record.
Spring Break Trip
• Maine will play seven game over the course of 10 days over its spring break trip, heading to Alabama (March 19) and Troy (March 20) for single games before heading up to Binghamton to open the America East slate next weekend with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 23 and a single game on Sunday, March 24.
Pasic's Play
• After a wild pitch, Maine junior catcher
Cody Pasic picked up the baseball approaching the infield grass and made a leap towards home plate in hopes of tagging out a Bulldog in game one against Mississippi State.
• The runner was initially called safe, but after replay review, the call was overturned to an out. The game
• The play landed on ESPN SportCenter's Top 10 Plays, at number five.
The All-Time Series
• This weekend's series marks the first meetings between Maine and Samford.
• The Black Bears are 9-7 all-time against the current SoCon Teams
• Furman (1-1)
• Mercer (1-1)
• Western Carolina (4-1)
• Wofford (0-4)
• VMI (3-0)
DeLightful DeLaite
•
Trevor DeLaite has dazzled opposing batters this season, with lefties just batting .158 (3/19) against him and righties hitting at a .171 (6/35) clip. He has allowed just two hits with runners on base (2/23).
• He has struck out 21 batters in 15.1 innings pitched, allowing just nine hits and six earned runs.
• He ranks fourth in the America East with 21 strikeouts this season and third in opponents' batting average (.167).
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 is batting .233 on the season, as he's tied with a team-high 10 hits and has the most doubles (3) and highest on-base percentage (.353) this season.
• Check out 'Strikeout the Stigma' on goblackbears.com for more info.
Young Cubs
• Several freshmen Black Bears have impressed through 13 games this season.
• Freshman RHP
Nicholas Sinacola has allowed just 10 hits in 13 innings pitched this season, holding opponents to just a .222 batting average. He has struck out 12 batters and earned the America East Conference's first freshman of the week of the season.
•
Jake Roper hit a grand slam on his first collegiate hit against Florida State on Feb. 16 against FSU. He is tied for the team lead with 6 RBIs.
• Freshman Catcher
Ryan Turenne is batting .313 on the season, with a team-high .791 OPS.
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.
Hall of Famers
• 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.
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