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Baseball Finishes Season at America East Tournament
May 31, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format
The University of Maine baseball team concluded the 2007 season at the America East Tournament. The Black Bears dropped a pair of games to Binghamton in the tournament, while defeating Stony Brook. The games marked the final ones in the careers of Joel Barrett (Brewer, Maine), Matt McGraw (Burlington, Ontario) and Greg Norton (South Portland, Maine). A LOOK AT THE BLACK BEARS: The Black Bears were led by Joel Barrett who hit .372 his senior season with 40 runs scored and 44 RBI. He led the team with 18 doubles and also tied for the team-lead with eight home runs. Barrett finished the season with a .990 fielding percentage. Curt Smith (Willemstad, Curacao) finished the season with a .351 batting average with team-highs in both runs scored with 46 and in RBI with 48. He had 12 doubles, five triples and eight home runs. He was a perfect 9-of-9 in stolen bases on the season. Billy Cather (Worcester, Mass.) hit .321 on the season with 35 runs scored and 26 RBI. He had 12 doubles and four home runs. Cather was 17-of-19 in stolen bases. Kevin Jackson (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) had a .318 batting average with 13 runs scored and 15 RBI. Myckie Lugbauer (Mahopac, N.Y.) batted .301 with 20 runs scored and 27 RBI. He had nine doubles, one triple and five home runs. Brian Hackett (Bangor, Maine) hit .296 on the season with 16 runs scored and 18 RBI. Matt McGraw finished with a .288 batting average with 43 runs scored and 28 RBI. He had five doubles, a team-high six triples and four home runs. McGraw also lead the team in stolen bases with 19 on the season. Danny Menendez (Miami, Fla.) hit .297 with 33 runs scored and 25 RBI. He had nine doubles and a pair of home runs. Kevin McAvoy (Brewer, Maine) batted .276 with 25 runs scored and 30 RBI. He had eight doubles and four home runs on the season. ?The pitching staff was led by Greg Norton (South Portland, Maine) who was 7-3 on the season with a 5.03 ERA. He pitched a team-high 73.1 innings on the season. He also led the team in both starts with 13 and in complete games with four. Norton struck out 49 batters on the season. Brad Hertzler (Westport, Mass.) was 4-5 on the season with a team-low 3.58 ERA. He struck out a team-high 71 batters on the season. Alejandro Balsinde (Miami, Fla.) was 3-5 with a 4.40 ERA in 71.2 innings. He had three complete games. LUGBAUER NAMED AMERICA EAST ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Freshman catcher Myckie Lugbauer was named the America East Rookie of the Year on Wednesday, May 23rd at the annual America East Awards banquet. He joins teammates Greg Norton (2003) and Kevin McAvoy (2006) who won also won the award. He is the sixth Black Bear to win the award wince 1999. Lugbauer hit .301 for the Black Bears in 45 games with 20 runs scored and 27 RBI. He was named America East Rookie of the Week four different times during the season. ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Billy Cather and Curt Smith were each named to the America East All-Tournament Team. Cather hit .667 in the tournament with a team-high seven runs scored and two RBI. He had a double and a home run in the three games. He had a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .714 on-base percentage. Smith hit .500 in the tournament with five runs scored and five RBI. He had a triple and a home run. Smith finished with a .917 slugging percentage and a .538 on-base percentage. SWEET 16: Billy Cather ended the season with a 16-game hitting streak. It is the longest streak by a Black Bear player this season. It is the longest hitting streak since Brett Ouellette recorded an 18-game hitting streak during the 2003 season. Brian Seguin (1990) holds the school record with a hit in 27 straight games. BARRETT FINISHES SECOND ON ALL-TIME HITS LIST: Joel Barrett finished his career ranked second on the all-time hits list. Barrett finished his career with 283 hits. He finished 45 hits shy of Mark Sweeney's school record. MAINE'S OPPONENTS MAKING IT TO THE REGIONALS: Five of Maine's 2007 opponents earned NCAA Regional berths. Miami, Arizona State, New Orleans, Monmouth and Albany all either received an at-large or automatic bid to the 2007 NCAA Tournament. HITTING THE LONG BALL: The Black Bears hit a season-high five home runs on Monday, May 15 at Hartford. Kevin McAvoy led the way with two home runs, while Joel Barrett, Myckie Lugbauer and Matt McGraw each had one. It is the most home runs that Maine has hit in a game since hitting five against Hartford last season on May 13. McGRAW, HACKETT NAMED TO ESPN THE MAGAZINE/ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT FIRST TEAM: Senior Matt McGraw and sophomore Brian Hackett were recently named to the ESPN The Magazine/Academic All-District First Team. McGraw, who was named a Second Team Academic All-American last season, was honored for the second time in his career. McGraw is a business major. Hackett, the lone sophomore named to the first team, is a biochemistry major. OUTSTANDING GAMES ON THE MOUND: Maine recorded two outstanding pitching performances on the mound on Sunday, May 13. Brad Hertzler pitched a complete game in Maine's 14-1 win over Hartford. He allowed just five hits and one run while striking out six. Greg Norton followed that up with a two-hit complete game in which he allowed just one unearned run. Norton took a perfect game into the bottom of the fifth inning. PERFECT IN THE FIELD: Billy Cather finished the season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. He did not commit an error in 100 chances. Cather also had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage as a rookie in 66 chances. MEMORABLE DAY FOR NORTON: Greg Norton had a memorable day on Friday, May 25th in the America East Tournament. Norton set a school record when he threw his first pitch by starting his 50th career game. He also picked up his 27th career win which tied the school record for career wins. He tied the mark set by Bill Swift (1981-84) and tied by Mike D'Andrea (1989-92). Norton also moved to third place on the all-time innings list on the day with 298.1 innings and to sixth place on Maine's all-time strikeouts list on the day with his 218th. Norton also finished with a season-high eight strikeouts on the day. COMPLETE GAMES ON THE RISE: Maine pitchers combined to complete nine games this season. Greg Norton had four, Alejandro Balsinde three and Brad Hertzler two. Maine pitchers combined to complete just six games last season. It is the most complete games since Maine pitchers completed 16 games in 2003.
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