April 18, 2012

Bates Notes

The University of Maine baseball team extended its winning streak to 13 games with a victory over Hartford on Sunday afternoon. Maine hosts Bates this afternoon. The Black Bears enter play today with a record of 20-14. Bates is 15-12 on the season after a 20-7 win over Curry yesterday. 

 

SCOUTING THE MAINE BLACK BEARS: Maine is led by Ian Leisenheimer who is hitting .342 with 21 runs scored and 26 RBI. He has six doubles to go along with two triples and a home run. Scott Heath has a .333 batting average with 16 runs scored and 12 RBI. He has six doubles on the campaign. Tyler Patzalek is hitting .330 with 23 runs scored and 27 RBI. He has three doubles and three home runs on the season. Fran Whitten has a .319 average with 26 runs scored and 20 RBI. He has 10 doubles with one triple and one home run. Colin Gay is chipping in with a .319 batting average as well with 24 runs scored and 17 RBI. He has six doubles to go along with one home run and six stolen bases. Michael Fransoso has a .299 batting average with 34 runs scored and 13 RBI. He has 11 doubles and leads the team in stolen bases with 12. Troy Black is chipping in with a .294 batting average with 15 runs scored and 15 RBI. Alex Calbick is hitting .269 with 28 runs scored and 29 RBI. He has 12 doubles to go along with three home runs. Justin Leisenheimer is hitting .257 with 25 runs scored and 18 RBI. He leads the team in home runs with five. 

The pitching staff is led by Stephen Perakslis who is 4-2 with a 2.96 ERA. He leads the team in innings pitched with 54.2. Shaun Coughlin is 3-2 with a 3.94 ERA. He has two complete games and two saves on the season. D.J. Voisine is 3-0 with a 4.50 ERA. Mike Connolly is 3-3 with a 5.31 ERA and three saves. Jeffrey Gibbs is 2-4 with a 9.00 ERA. He has struck out a team-high 38 batters on the season. Fran Whitten has a pair of wins on the season, while Luke Morrill, Jonathan Balentina and Manny Pupo each have one. 

 

MAINE COACHING STAFF IN 2012: Maine head coach Steve Trimper (Eastern Connecticut State University '92) is in his seventh season at the helm of the Black Bears. He has an overall record of 368-338-4 in his 14th season as a head coach. He has a record of 196-164-2 with the Black Bears. He is assisted by Jason Spaulding (Vermont '00), and former student-athletes Billy Cather (Maine '09) and Ryan Forrest (Maine '09). 

 

SCOUTING THE BATES BOBCATS: SCOUTING BATES: Bates is led Griff Tewksbury who is hitting .424 with 19 runs scored and 22 RBI. He has 10 doubles to go along with a triple and three home runs. He has stolen 10 bases on the season. Kevin McGregor has a .353 average with 15 runs scored and 18 RBI. He has six doubles to go along with one triple. Kevin Davis is hitting .322 with 18 runs scored and seven RBI. He has hit four doubles. Nate Pajka is batting .311 with 19 runs scored and a team-high 26 RBI. He has three doubles, a triple and two home runs to go along with six stolen bases.

The pitching staff is led by Karl Alexander who is 4-3 with a 4.87 ERA. He leads the team with 44.1 innings pitched on the season. Michael Spinosa is 3-2 with a 4.84 ERA. He has struck out a team-high 24 batters on the season. Mike Antonellis and Dean Bonneau each have a pair of wins, while Tom Baroni, Kevin McGregor, A.J. DeBenedictis and Chris Fusco have all won one game. 

Bates is coached by Mike Leonard (UConn '04) who is in his second season. He is assisted by Louie Bernardini, Don Plourde, Jeff Benson and Bob Flynn.  

 

STREAKING BLACK BEARS: Maine is in the midst of a 13-game winning streak. The 13 game winning streak is the longest since the Black Bears won a school-record 23 straight games during the 1991 season. A year ago, Maine won 11 straight games. 

 

HOME SWEET HOME: Maine is 5-0 at home this season. In addition, the Black Bears have outscored their opponents 36-9 in games played at Mahaney Diamond this season. 

 

DOUBLE DIGIT HITTING STREAK:Ian Leisenheimer leads all Black Bears with an 11-game hitting streak. In addition, he has reached base in 14 straight games. Fran Whitten has a nine-game hitting streak, while Troy Black has hit safely in eight games. 

 

RECORD SETTING WEEKEND: Maine scored 76 runs in four games at UMBC the weekend of April 6 and 7. The Black Bears set a school and America East record with 32 runs in the second game on Friday. It breaks the Maine record of 27 runs set in 1976 against Husson. The Black Bears hit nine doubles on Saturday, breaking the school record of seven set in 1981 against Miami and tied four times. The Black Bears had 25 RBI in the game on Friday, just shy of the record of 27 also set in 1976 against Husson. 

 

BACK FOR MORE: The Black Bears have returned 18 letterwinners from last year's squad and have brought in nine newcomers. 

 

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Maine has hit 70 doubles on the season and ranks 37th in the nation in doubles per game, averaging 2.06 per contest. The 70 doubles hit by the Black Bears on the season rank tied for 51st in the nation. Maine has hit at least one double in eight straight games.  

 

SAVING THE DAY: Maine has five saves on the season. Mike Connolly leads the way with three, while Shaun Coughlin has a pair. 

 

17 STRAIGHT INNINGS: Maine scored a run in 17 straight innings at UMBC on April 6 and 7. In the first game of a doubleheader on Friday, Maine scored a run in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Maine scored a run in all nine innings in the second game of the doubleheader. The Black Bears then scored a run in each of the first three innings in the first game on Saturday. 

 

OPENING WIN: Maine opened up this season with a 6-5 win at #16 Clemson. It was the first time the Black Bears won their season opener since 2008 when they swept Delaware State. 

 

DOUBLE DIGIT HITS: Maine has put up some impressive numbers during its 13-game winning streak. The Black Bears have recorded 10 or more hits in 11 of the 13 contests. 

 

BROTHERLY LOVE: The Black Bears have three sets of brothers on the squad this season: Justin and Ian Leisenheimer, Robbie and Steve Trask, and Nick and Garrett Bernardo. 

 

FAMILY TIES: Garrett and Nick Bernardos' father Rick Bernardo played for the Black Bears from 1983-86 and was a first team All-American. 

 

KEEPING IT LOCAL:  Maine currently has eight players from Maine and an additional 11 from the New England area.

 

TOUGH OPENING STRETCH: Seven of Maine's first nine games were against nationally ranked opponents: Clemson (#16), Florida State (#8), and Stetson (#19).   

 

PERFECT RELIEF: Luke Morrill pitched 3.2 innings of perfect relief against Fordham at the Seton Hall Strike Out Cancer Tournament on March 17. He retired all 11 batters he faced, five of them on strike outs. 

 

WHAT A BEAUT: Shaun Coughlin threw a complete game in Maine's 6-1 win over Bowling Green on March 10. He surrendered only six hits and one run. He did not issue a walk and struck out seven batters. 

 

GOING...GOING...GONE!: Justin and Ian Leisenheimer have combined for six of Maine's 15 home runs this season. Justin leads the team with five. Patzalek and Calbick each have three home runs on the season. 

 

PORTLAND BOUND: The Black Bears will take on the Boston College Eagles at Hadlock Field in Portland on May 15. Gametime is set for 6 PM.

 

1800 AND COUNTING: Last year's Regional Tournament win over FIU marked the 1,800th win in program history. The Black Bears are currently 1820-1422-17.

 

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Maine has four captains for the 2012: Jonathan Balentina, Michael Fransoso, Jeff Gibbs, and Justin Leisenheimer. 

 

BLACK BEARS HONORED FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: Maine had eight student athletes earn Maine Scholar Athlete Honors for the fall 2011 semester: Sam Balzano, Garrett Bernardo, Brian Doran, and Luke Morrill were awarded the *Rising Star* honors. A.J. Bazdanes, Colin Gay and Pat Thibodeau earned Bronze Medals while Jonathan Balentina earned Double Gold Honors. 

 

AMERICA EAST ACADEMIC HONORS: Maine had 11 student-athletes honored last spring by being named to the America East Academic Honor Roll: Jonathan Balentina*, Nick deVries, Ian Leisenheimer*, Justin Leisenheimer, Taylor Lewis, Joey Martin, Tony Patane, Carson Pillar*, Kyle Benoit, Kyle Stilphen and George Tager*. * denotes Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll with 3.5 or higher. 

 

NEW WAYS TO FOLLOW THE BLACK BEARS: In addition to following the Maine baseball team on www.GoBlackBears.com, you can also follow the Black Bear baseball team via facebook and twitter. Become a fan of UMaine Baseball on facebook and follow the Black Bears on twitter at www.twitter.com/MaineBaseball