Bears face NU in NAC tourney opener today

ORONO – The University of Maine’s Black Bears may be involved in a series with Oklahoma State University’s nationally-ranked Cowboys but the Northeastern Huskies are also very much on their minds.

The Bears, 28-22 entering Friday night’s game against the Cowboys, will entertain 16-17 Northeastern in their best-of-three North Atlantic Conference quarterfinal series on Saturday and Sunday at noon.

They will play a single game on Saturday and will play one or two on Sunday.

Maine beat Northeastern 1-0, 4-0, 7-2 and 4-3 April 24-25 but the Bears know they are playing a quality opponent.

“They’re a scrappy team. We can’t look by them,” said Maine senior center fielder Chad White. “They do a lot of things well. We’ve got to try to get as many hits and runs as possible and stay on top of them. If you let up, they’ll come right back at you.”

“If you let them stay in the game, they can be dangerous,” said Maine senior righthander Ronnie Hewes. “They’re a very solid team in all areas. We could have lost two of those games earlier this season.”

“We have to come ready to play to beat them,” said Bear junior righthander Mark Ballard, who will start the opener. “They didn’t play that well in the last series. I hope we don’t underestimate them.”

“We’ve had games this year that we weren’t mentally into,” said sophomore relief ace Lance Bogardus. “But we’ll be mentally ready for those games.”

“We’re always ready for Northeastern,” said senior catcher Shawn Tobin, referring to the intense rivalry that has developed between the two teams.

“We definitely respect them,” said senior second baseman Todd Livingston. “They’ve got three quality starters. We can’t give them any breathing room. We’ve got to get on them early.”

The Bears feel the series with Oklahoma State will be more of a benefit than a hindrance against the Huskies of Neil McPhee.

“Seeing live pitching is always better than batting practice,” said Livingston.

The Bears and the Huskies are no strangers to each other in post-season play.

They met four times in the ECAC playoffs over the last seven years and have split the games.

In 1991, Northeastern beat Maine 5-4 in the championship round at the ECAC Tournament in Orono to force a final game but the Bears prevailed in the title game 12-2.

Northeastern stunned Maine 8-1 in the opener of the 1986 ECAC Tournament but the Bears later avenged the loss with a 12-0 win en route to winning the tourney.