ORONO, Maine – The University of Maine baseball team will face another tough task in its fourth series of the season, taking on No. 7 Mississippi State in a three-game series this weekend in Starkville. Originally scheduled for three single games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the series has been changed to a doubleheader beginning on 4:00 p.m. EST, and a single game beginning on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. All three games will be broadcasted online on the SEC Network+ and can be heard on the radio dials on WGUY 96.1 FM and goblackbears.com. Sunday's game will be online exclusively, until the Maine – UAlbany women's basketball game is over.
Series Information
Maine Black Bears at No. 7 Mississippi State Bulldogs
DATES: March 8, 10
SITE: Starkville
, Miss. | Dudy Noble Field at Polk–DeMent Stadium
Records: Maine 0-10, No. 7 Mississippi State 12-1
Probable Rotation
Game 1: Maine RHP
Nick Silva | MSU LHP Ethan Small
Game 2: Maine RHP
Peter Kemble | MSU RHP JT Ginn
Game 3: Maine RHP
Cody Laweryson | MSU RHP Keegan James
Liberty Series
• Maine struggled offensively against Liberty, scoring three runs in three games last week.
• In game two, back-to-back RBI doubles from
Joe Bramanti and
Jeffrey Omohundro in the fourth inning tied the contest up at 2-2, but a bases-loaded walk sent home the go-ahead Flame run, as Liberty earned a 3-2 victory.
• After leaving his first start of the season after an inning and missing the Maryland series completely due to injury,
Nick Silva pitched 3.2 innings in a start last Saturday, striking out five while allowing three hits and two runs against the Flames.
About Mississippi State
• The Diamond Dawgs enter the series with a 12-1 overall record, with their lone blemish coming in a 1-0 extra inning loss to Southern Miss.
• On the mound Mississippi State ranks fourth nationally in ERA (1.53) and third in hits allowed per nine innings (5.4).
• Bull Dog hitters as a unit rank 22
nd in the country in total hits (22), third in doubles (34), while scoring 8.2 runs per game, which is 23
rd best in the nation.
The All-Time Series
• The Black Bears and Diamond Dawgs met twice in the 1991 NCAA regional season, Maine's winningest season in program history.
• The two squads met twice in Maine's most recent hosted NCAA regional, as Mississippi State sent Maine to the loser's bracket with a 6-5 victory at Mahaney Diamond. Maine improved to 2-1 in the regional tournament after downing Towson 8-0, and advanced to the regional championship series against Clemson with a 8-5 victory over Mississippi State. Maine would fall to Clemson 13-5, as the Tigers advanced to the College World Series.
• In Maine's victory in front of 2,787, the Black Bears built a 4-0 lead after three innings and 8-0 lead heading in to the bottom of the ninth. The Bulldogs rallied for five runs in the ninth, as starter Ed Therrien pitched 8 2/3 innings, allowing eight hits, five runs, while striking out eight and walking five. Chuck Madeau came in with two outs in the ninth and stuck out the final out.
• Brian Seguin drove in two runs on one hit, while Mark Sweeney (two hits), Tim Scott, Gabe Duross and Chad White all registered RBIs. Mississippi State made seven errors in the loss.
Tough Slate
• Maine's schedule ranks as the 27
th toughest according to the NCAA, entering the series against No. 7 Mississippi State
• Florida State (11-0), Maryland (7-4) and Liberty (9-3) have combined for a 27-7 record as of March 7.
• Despite an 0-10 record, Maine ranks 190
th of 293 in the latest RPI rankings, ahead of likes of Arizona (191, 8-5), UMass (194, 3-1) and Eastern Tennessee State (197, 9-3).
Divine DeLaite
• Tervor DeLaite has dazzled opposing batters this season, with lefties just batting .125 (2/16) against him and righties hitting at a .087 (2/23) clip. He has not allowed a single hit with runners on base (0/19)
• He has struck out 18 batters in 12.0 innings pitched, allowing just four hits and two earned runs.
• DeLaite ranks 14
th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (3.0), 53
rd in strikeouts per nine innings (13.50) and 105
th in WHIP (0.83).
• He leads the America East with 18 strikeouts this season and third in opponents' batting average (.103).
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 .258 on the season, smacking a team-high eight hits and three doubles in 10 games this season.
• Check out 'Strikeout the Stigma' on goblackbears.com for more info.
Bramanti's Bat
•
Joe Bramanti has helped the lineup offensively with seven hits, two doubles along with a homerun.
• His five RBIs are tied with Roper for the team lead.
• He has earned five walks on the season, and had a six-game on-base streak snapped against Liberty in game one of the doubleheader.
Young Cubs
• Several freshmen Black Bears have impressed through 10 games this season.
• Freshman RHP
Nicholas Sinacola has allowed just six hits in 11 innings pitched this season, holding opponents to just a .171 batting average. He has struck out 10 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 5 RBIs.
• Freshman Catcher
Ryan Turenne is batting .333 on the season, with a team-high .885 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.
-UMaine-
