The University of Maine baseball team’s four-game sweep of Hartford over the weekend has given the Black Bears a much brighter outlook as the regular season winds down this week.

Maine, which has earned the right to host the North Atlantic Maine, which has earned the right to host the North Atlantic Conference tournament May 16-19, can virtually guarantee itself the No. 2 seed by sweeping Drexel in Sunday’s season-ending doubleheader at Mahaney Diamond in Orono. Coach John Winkin’s Bears are 18-34, 12-8 in the conference.

The site for the 1996 league tournament went to the highest-seeded team in the North Division of the NAC, providing that school has a suitable lighted facility. Maine beat out New Hampshire, Vermont and Hartford for the right to have the tournament in Orono. Northeastern also is in the North.

Drexel and Northeastern are close behind Maine at 10-8, and both ballclubs have four NAC games remaining next weekend. The Bears can stay ahead of Drexel with two wins in head-to-head play, in which case the Huskies would have to sweep both league leader Delaware (16-4) and Hofstra (11-11) to have a chance at the second seed.

Regardless, Maine can finish no worse than fourth in the NAC standings. In the event of a split with the Dragons, the Bears could still finish No. 2 with some help.

The double-elimination NAC tournament includes the top six league teams, based on their overall conference records. The No. 1 seed plays No. 6, No. 2 meets No. 5, and Nos. 3 and 4 square off in the first round. The NAC tourney champion receives an automatic bid to an NCAA Regional.

Maine has won five straight games for the first time this season and has gone 9-2 in its last 11 NAC contests. Winkin and the Bears, who are 18-12 in the northern portion of their schedule, believe they are finally coming around.

“We expect to get big innings now, and we’re expecting everybody to make the big plays,” said junior Garrett Quinn, who recorded two saves and a relief win last weekend and added a game-tying pinch-hit single.

“We’re playing good ball at just the right time,” Quinn sa “We’re playing good ball at just the right time,” Quinn said. “You can’t ask to come together at a better time than this. You’ve just got to keep proving it.”

The Bears appear to have benefited from a high number of close games. They have begun to exhibit exceptional resiliency, having been involved in 11 one-run decisions in 20 northern games. Maine is 5-6 in those contests after winning three in row against Hartford.

“I think we’ve come together as a team. I’d like to think we have some momentum now,” Winkin said. “Our performance rose when it had to rise [against Hartford].”

Ivy Newcomb of Perry and Shawndra Applegate of Manchester, N.H., have been named captains for the 1996-97 Merrimack College women’s basketball team.

Newcomb, a former standout at Shead High in Eastport, also served as a team co-captain last season. The 6-foot-1 center averaged 10.8 points and led 13-14 Merrimack with 7.9 rebounds per outing.

Ryan Bradford of Bangor had another solid season playing basketball at Division III Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk. The sophomore forward averaged 11 points and 4.9 rebounds for the 16-10 Marlins.

Bradford, a former Bangor High standout, shot 51 percent from the field, including 41-percent accuracy from beyond the 3-point line. He started 20 of 23 games, averaging 27.3 minutes per contest.

Patrick Fournier of Colby College in Waterville won the 10,000 meters Saturday during the NCAA New England Division III Track and Field Championships held in Williamstown, Mass.

The sophomore from Bellows Falls, Vt., was clocked in 31 minutes, 6.37 seconds. With the effort, Fournier qualified provisionally for the NCAA national championship May 22-25 in Naperville, Ill. He also set a school and track record.

Colby’s Conrad Saam established a school record in the decathlon during last weekend’s New England championships. The senior from Skillman, N.J., won the pole vault, long jump, 100 meters and 1,500 meters en route to scoring 5,858 points.