ORONO, Maine – The University of Maine baseball team will step out of America East play one final time in the regular season, taking on ACC foe Boston College on Tuesday afternoon at the Harrington Athletics Village.
How to Follow: There is no live stream available, but fans can listen to Jim Churchill broadcast the game on the radio locally on 96.1 WGUY FM and nationally on goblackbears.com.
Series Information
Maine Black Bears vs. Boston College Eagles
Date: May 14
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Site: Harrington Athletics Village
Records: Maine 14-29 (10-10 AE), Boston College (26-25, 10-17 ACC)
Probable Rotation
Maine RHP
Jacob Small | Boston College LHP Joey Walsh
Maine – Hartford Recap
• After Maine won a wild series opener against Hartford by a score of 11-10, Hartford would come back to take the second game 5-4 and the series finale 3-1.
• Maine put together leads of 5-0 and 10-6, but Hartford kept battling back into the game. A
Jeffrey Omohundro RBI single proved to be difference, as Maine won 11-10.
• All three games went down to the wire, as Maine took a 4-2 lead in extra innings in game two, but the Hawks rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth of a seven-inning contest to win 5-4.
• After a
Joe Bramanti single in the top of the first, the Black Bears would lead the next six and a half innings, until Hartford scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh to earn a 3-1 win.
AE Weekly Awards
• For the second consecutive week,
Ryan Turenne was selected as the America East Rookie of the Week.
• In 10 at bats on the week against Hartford, Turenne collected four hits, posting a .400 batting average. He also reached base twice on two walks and a hit-by-pitch for a .538 on-base percentage. The Lynn, Mass. native smacked two hits in each game of the doubleheader, which included a double and an RBI single. He also caught three Hawks stealing in the series.
• Over the last two weeks, Turenne leads the Black Bears with a .409 batting average, a .591 slugging percentage and a .500 on base percentage. In those eight games, he has drove in five runs.
About Boston College
• The Eagles have won four of its last five games, winning two of three in its last series against Virginia Tech.
• Overall, BC has posted 8 wins over ranked teams this season, which include No. 8 Louisville, No. 20 Clemson, No.19 Florida State (2), No. 1 NC State and. No. 17 Georgia Tech.
• The Eagles and Black Bears have faced mutual opponents in Florida State and UMass Lowell, with BC holding a 3-1 record against similar foes, while Maine holds a 3-4 record.
• The Eagles sit at 10-17 in the ACC's Atlantic Division, which ranks seven of seven teams in the competitive conference.
• BC has a team batting average of .286 and an ERA of 5.03.
The All-Time Series
• Maine leads the all-time series 24-15, with the squads first meeting in 1898.
• BC won last year's weather shortened contest by a score of 9-7.
• Maine last defeated Boston College on May 13, 2014 by a score of 12-3 in Sanford, Maine.
Notable Streaks
•
Danny Casals currently has the longest on-base streak and hit-streak on the team, both 10 games.
•
Hernen Sardinas extended his on-base streak to eight straight games.
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.
• Check out 'Strikeout the Stigma' on goblackbears.com for more info.
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 fourth 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.
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 honored the 1991 team on to campus on the weekend of April 20 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-
