ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears are coming off a COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign in which they only played nine total games.

DATE	TIME	OPPONENT	COVERAGE
3/13/21	12:00 p.m.	at Merrimack	Live Stats - Twitter - Video
3/13/21	2:30 p.m.	at Merrimack	Live Stats - Twitter - Video
3/14/21	12:00 p.m.	at Sacred Heart	Live Stats - Twitter
3/14/21	2:30 p.m.	at Sacred Heart	Live Stats - Twitter

Maine returns all except for one player from last year's squad. The Black Bears feature four academic juniors who were academic freshmen on the 2019 roster, led by Kelby Drews. A junior this year, she appeared in 31 games while starting 28 with the Black Bears. Drews placed fourth on the team with a total of four RBI, one home run, and 22 hits. Drews also posted a five game hit streak in the middle of 2019's southern trip. With a .938 fielding percentage, she only committed eight errors in 128 chances.
 
Junior Grace McGouldrick, who played in 41 games (started 39 of them), batted .188 with eight RBI, one home run, and 10 runs scored. McGouldrick crushed her home run in the opening weekend of the 2019 season, which led to her being named America East Rookie of the Week.
 
Brianna Neely is looking to repeat a freshman campaign which saw her leading the team in hits runs (16) and stolen bases (16). With the second highest batting average (.281), Neely was among some of the conference leaders in average in the America East. Neely had a four game hit streak to start her Black Bear career, while three of the games were multi-hit games. This led to Neely having the highest on base percentage on the squad (.370).
 
Keely Clark returns after she played in 32 of the 41 Maine games, while starting in all 32 games she appeared in. Clark had the most home runs as a freshman on the team with two, and she slugged .407 during the season. The junior also produced the third highest RBI total with nine.
 
Maine returns a pair of senior pitchers in Kyleigh O'Donnell and Lilly Volk. O'Donnell finished her 2019 season with a 3.18 ERA, fifth lowest in the conference. The senior racked up 70 strikeouts to 31 walks. She recorded a 2.28 ERA against America East opponents and tallied 42 strikeouts, which were both good enough for fifth in the league. Lilly Volk posted a 4.63 ERA with a 4-6 record at the conclusion of the 2019 campaign. She finished with 17 strikeouts to 18 walks. The senior recorded her first double digit strikeout performance of the year at Tennessee State.
 
Emily Reid and Gabbie Siciliano, both juniors, will return for their third season in a Black Bear uniform. The two hurlers combined for four wins and 71 strikeouts over their first season in Orono.
 
Mike Coutts, who has helped guide the Black Bears to the America East title game in each of his first two seasons, including a championship and trip to the regionals in his first season in 2016, returns for his sixth year at the helm and his ninth year on staff.
 
-UMaine-