ORONO – The University of Maine baseball team spent more than 60 hours riding a bus in the last two weeks. The Black Bears traveled to Florida and back on their annual spring break trip.

UMaine stopped off in Connecticut Sunday long enough to sweep a doubleheader from Quinnipiac (Conn.), capping off the most successful southern swing in the program’s history.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ Bears, who last season stumbled to a 1-14 start, returned to Orono with an impressive 12-2 record and a healthy dose of confidence.

“Everybody played to expectations or above,” said UMaine’s fifth-year coach. “Everything fell right into place.”

Aside from some occasional defensive struggles, the Bears put together a strong all-around performance coming out of the UMaine field house and have laid a foundation for a successful season.

The pitching staff was outstanding as UMaine posted a 4.03 team earned run average while holding opponents to a .237 batting average. The Bears also walked only 34 batters in 111 2/3 innings.

Freshman righthander Mike Collar of Scarborough led the way, going 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 21 innings. Junior lefty Rusty Tucker (2-0, 2.81), frosh Mike MacDonald of Camden (2-0, 3.94) and senior righty Kris Ehmke (2-0, 5.54) were solid, while senior transfer Simon Stoner, a righty, went 1-1 with a 6.57 ERA.

“Top to bottom, we seem to have five starters who all gave us innings and didn’t have the quick departure,” Kostacopoulos said. “That’s what you ask your starters to do is give you a chance go win the game.”

The bullpen also came through, led by sophomore righty Adam Labelle (1-0, 1.59, 1 save) and senior righthander Matt Truman of Otisfield (0-1, 2.08, 1 save).

“They’ve improved,” Kostacopoulos said. “We haven’t had that go-to guy [in the bullpen] in the sense of feeling real comfortable about it.”

The Bears were no slouches with the bats, either, hitting .345 with 19 home runs. Senior designated hitter Jon Hambelton headed the charge, batting .490 with four homers and 22 RBIs.

“He had a great trip,” Kostacopoulos said. “I think he was our best hitter and our clutchest hitter.”

Sophomore center fielder and leadoff man Mike Livulpi (.452), senior second baseman Quin Peel (.424) and frosh outfielder Simon Williams of Portland (.409) all checked in above .400, while sophomore first baseman Jesse Carlton (.371), soph third baseman Joe Drapeau of Biddeford (.361, 4 HR, 21 RBIs), junior left fielder Mike Ross (.313, 3 HR, 17 RBIs) and freshman shortstop Mark Reichley (.311, 9 RBIs) did their share.

Sophomore catcher Alain Picard (.259, 2 HR) is fourth on the team with 11 RBIs and classmate Aaron Young of Augusta (.240, 2 HR, 9 RBIs) had some clutch hits.

“The best thing, out of all the particulars, is we really played as a team,” Kostacopoulos said. “There’s not a guy on the roster who didn’t contribute.”

The Bears commited 31 errors, but most often were able to overcome them. Reichley, who is settling in at shortstop, made 10 and Peel, the second baseman, had six.

UMaine stole 19 bases in 22 attempts, led by Williams’ five, but allowed opponents to convert 29 of 37 tries.

“Defensively, we’ve got to do a better job making the plays. We can’t keep giving teams four- and five-out innings,” Kostacopoulos said.

While critics might point out that UMaine’s opponents had a combined record of 36-81 (.308) as of their final games against the Bears, Kostacopoulos maintains the schedule was comparable to last year, when they struggled against the likes of Wofford, Division II Northern Colorado and Manhattan.

“The schedule is not that much different,” said Kostacopoulos, whose team did drop four games to nationally ranked Arizona State four times in 2000. “We had some winnable games last year and we didn’t get it done.”

Rather than get caught up in the hype, Kostacopoulos wants his players stay focused on the long season ahead.

“I think it’s really important that we’re mature enough as a team to recognize what we have to do to get better,” he said. “I told the players that how we handle this initial success will really determine where the team goes.”

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE BASEBALL

Remaining 2001 Schedule

March

30 ? at Sacred Heart, 2 p.m.

31 ? at Drexel (2), noon*

April

1 ? at Drexel (2), noon*

6 ? at Harvard, 3 p.m.

7 ? at Hartford (2), noon*

8 ? at Hartford (2), noon*

13 ? Delaware (2), 4 p.m.*

14 ? Delaware (2), noon*

17 ? Bowdoin, 6 p.m.

18 ? Colby, 6 p.m.

21 ? Towson (2), noon*

22 ? Towson (2), noon*

25 ? at Boston College, 3 p.m.

28 ? at Hofstra (2), noon*

29 ? at Hofstra (2), noon*

May

2 ? Holy Cross, at Sanford, 4 p.m.

5 ? Vermont (2), noon*

6 ? Vermont (2), noon*

11 ? Northeastern, 7 p.m.*

12 ? Northeastern (2), 1 p.m.*

13 ? Northeastern, noon*

17-20 ? America East Tournament, at Wilmington, Del.

*America East conference game