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Maine Hosts Hartford in Key Baseball Series
May 1, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
The University of Maine baseball team hosts Hartford for an America East series this weekend. It is a crucial weekend for the Black Bears, who are looking to climb in the America East standings. It will be the final home games of the season for Maine. On Sunday, Maine will honor seniors Nolan Boike (Arlington, Mass.), Will Carroll (Boothbay, Maine), Mark Ostrander (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Curt Smith (Willemstad, Curacao) prior to the game. SCOUTING THE MAINE BLACK BEARS: Maine is led by Curt Smith who is hitting .393 with a team-high 49 runs scored and 29 RBI. He has 10 doubles and leads the team in both home runs with 11 and in triples with three. Smith has stolen 10 bases on the season. Myckie Lugbauer (Mahopac, N.Y.) has a .367 batting average with 33 runs scored and a team-high 35 RBI. He leads the team in doubles with 18. Lugbauer also has one triple and four home runs. Jarrett Lukas (Old Town, Maine) is hitting .356 with 18 runs scored and 25 RBI. He has five doubles and four home runs to go along with a pair of triples. Billy Cather (Worcester, Mass.) is batting .325 with 26 runs scored and 22 RBI. He leads the team in stolen bases with 14 on the season. Tony Patane (New Milford, Conn.) is hitting .318 with 33 runs scored and 29 RBI. He has 10 doubles, two triples and three home runs. Mark Ostrander is chipping in with a .315 batting average with nine runs scored and 11 RBI. Kevin McAvoy (Brewer, Maine) is hitting .286 with 20 runs scored and 17 RBI. He has seven doubles, two triples and one home run. Joey Martin (Portland, Maine) is hitting .286 with 13 runs scored and 14 RBI. Kevin Jackson (Wappingers Falls. N.H.) has a .267 batting average with five runs scored and nine RBI. Joe Mercurio (Brewster, N.Y.) is chipping in with a .255 batting average with 15 runs scored and 12 RBI. Danny Menendez (Miami, Fla.) is hitting .250 with 22 runs scored and 18 RBI. He has nine doubles and eight stolen bases. The pitching staff is led by Joe Miller (Valley Stream, N.Y.) is 3-2 on the season with a 3.48 ERA. He has 38 strikeouts on the season. Kevin Scanlan (Sudbury, Mass.) is 2-3 on the season with a 3.49 ERA. He has struck out 56 batters on the season. Matt Jebb (Toronto, Ontario) is also 2-3 on the season. He has a 3.93 ERA and is tied with Scanlan for the team lead in strikeouts with 56. Kyle Benoit (Brampton, Ontario) is 3-1 on the season with a 5.53 ERA. MAINE COACHING STAFF IN 2008: Maine head coach Steve Trimper (Eastern Connecticut State University '92) returns for his third season at the helm of the Black Bears. He has an overall record of 245-248-4 in his 10th season as a head coach. He has a record of 73-74-2 in his third season with the Black Bears. He is assisted by Jared Holowaty (Eastern Connecticut State University '02), Aaron Izaryk (Maine '05) and Mark Michaud (Eastern Connecticut State University '02). SCOUTING THE HARTFORD HAWKS: Hartford is 14-24 on the season and 6-6 in America East Conference play. The Hawks are led by Mike Amendola who is hitting .366 with 25 runs scored and 26 RBI. He has 12 doubles, four home runs and two triples. Adam Bowser is hitting .333 with 22 runs scored and 23 RBI. He leads the team in home runs with six and in stolen bases with 14. Ben Sobocinski is hitting .307 with a team-high 31 runs scored and 15 RBI. He has 12 stolen bases on the season. Bill Perry is hitting .306 with 21 runs scored and 24 RBI to go along with five home runs. Andy Drexel has a .297 batting average with 24 runs scored and 15 RBI. He leads the team in doubles with 13. The pitching staff is led by Chris Greiner who is 5-1 on the season with a 4.03 ERA. He leads the team in strikeouts with 46 on the season. Pete Moraski is 3-2 with a 4.84 ERA. He has struck out 25 batters on the season. Weston Szymanski is 2-4 on the campaign with a 6.19 ERA. He has pitched a team-high 48 innings on the season and has struck out 36. MAINE AND HARTFORD ALL-TIME: Maine and Hartford have met 82 times with the Black Bears holding a 63-19 advantage. Maine has won six of the last eight games between the two schools, including winning three of four games last season. SMITH PLAYS IN 200TH CAREER GAME: Curt Smith played in his 200th career game last Sunday against Stony Brook. He is the lone currently Black Bear to have played in 200 career games. Danny Menendez is second on the list with 144 career games played. The Maine record for career games played is 238 held by Mark Sweeney. CATHER TIES STOLEN BASES RECORD: Billy Cather tied the Maine record for stolen bases in a game with three on Wednesday, April 16 at Coppin State. It is the 17th time in Maine history that a player has stolen three bases in a game. Cather leads Maine in stolen bases with 14. CONSECUTIVE GAMES PLAYED: Curt Smith leads all Black Bears, having played in 75 consecutive games dating back to last season. Danny Menendez is second on the team as he has currently seen action in 55 consecutive games. SMITH GOING DEEP: Curt Smith leads the team in home runs with 11. The 11 home runs are a career-high for Smith. It is the most home runs by a Maine player since Joe Drapeau hit 11 in 2003. Smith has 27 career home runs. DOUBLE THE FUN: The Black Bears tied a school record with seven doubles on Sunday, April 6 in their 19-0 win over NJIT. It is the fifth time in Maine history that the Black Bears have belted seven doubles in a game. The last time was against Long Island University during the 2003 season. SMITH AMONG ALL-TIME HITS LEADERS: Curt Smith recently moved into second place on Maine's all-time hits list with 284 career hits. 1. Mark Sweeney (1988-91) 328 2. Curt Smith (2005-present) 284 3. Joel Barrett (2004-07) 283 4. T.J. Sheedy (1995-98) 266 5. Gary LaPierre (1985-88) 263 SMITH AMONG ALL-TIME RBI LEADERS: Curt Smith recently moved into sixth place on Maine's all-time RBI list with 170 RBI. 1. Mark Sweeney (1988-91) 211 2. Joe Drapeau (2000-2003) 196 3. Ryan Quintal (2003-06) 178 4. Joel Barrett (2004-07) 172 Mike Ross (1999-2001) 172 6. Curt Smith (2005-present) 170 MAINE ACADEMIC HONORS: On Jan. 27, 2008, 13 baseball players were honored as UMaine Scholar-Athlete Award winners. Brian Hackett (Bangor, Maine) received a silver medal as a two-time selection. Mark Ostrander, Danny Menendez, Joey Martin, Myckie Lugbauer, Tavis Hasenfus (Winthrop, Maine), Billy Cather, Will Carroll and Alejandro Balsinde were all honored for the first time. Jonathan Balentina (Willemstad, Curacao), Jarrett Lukas, Joe Mercurio and Carson Piller (Mississauga, Ontario) were all honored for posting a 3.0 or higher grade point average in their first semester at Maine. BLACK BEARS AMONG AMERICA EAST LEADERS: Curt Smith leads America East in slugging percentage (.743), runs (49), home runs (11) and total bases (104). He is third in batting average (.393), on-base percentage (.491) and fourth in hits (55). Danny Menendez leads America East in sacrifice flies (4). Myckie Lugbauer is tied for first in doubles (18), third in RBI (35) and sixth in batting average (.367). Joe Miller is second in ERA (3.48), while Billy Cather is tied for second in stolen bases (14). Kevin Scanlan is tied for second in strikeouts (56) and third in ERA (3.49). Matt Jebb is tied for second in strikeouts with 56.
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