Solid pitching continues for Bears

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos would have preferred his team arrive home with at least three victories from the University of Maine’s four-game weekend baseball series at Drexel (Pa.).

Instead, the Black Bears settled for a split during their first America East action of the season. They continued to receive strong pitching, but had less success hitting.

“We continued to pitch well and that’s more of a constant than anything. It’s very much a bright spot,” Kostacopoulos said Monday. “We didn’t swing the bat very well and I think we’re a better team than we hit last weekend.”

UMaine, now 14-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play, begins preparations today for this weekend’s America East series at Hartford.

As Kostacopoulos looked out the window of his Mahaney Clubhouse office and saw the 24 inches of snow that covers Mahaney Diamond, he is reminded the Bears remain confined to the field house.

“There’s so much to do still, but overall we’re feeling good about ourselves,” Kostacopoulos said as he watched a small tractor begin removing some of the snow off the field in an attempt to expedite the melting process.

“We’re not digging down to the surface. Of the 24 inches, we want to take off 15,” said Kostacopoulos, whose team is scheduled to play its home opener Friday, April 13, against Delaware.

“If we don’t do something proactive on this field, we won’t play either weekend (April 13-14 or 21-22),” he predicted.

At Drexel, the Bears were the beneficiaries of three outstanding starts by Rusty Tucker, Simon Stoner and Scarborough’s Mike Collar. Tucker was a tough-luck loser Saturday, allowing only four hits and two unearned runs.

The lefthander lowered his earned run average to 1.96.

Senior righthander Stoner turned in his best performance to date Saturday, pitching six innings of two-hit shutout ball. Collar improved to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to 0.96 with a four-hit shutout Sunday.

The freshman righthander posted the first complete-game shutout for a UMaine pitcher since Tom Koutrouba blanked Hofstra on May 9, 1998.

Senior Kris Ehmke struggled Sunday and may lose his spot in the starting rotation this week to freshman Mike MacDonald of Camden.

Junior left fielder Mike Ross and sophomore center fielder Mike Livulpi paced the offense at Drexel. Ross went 7-for-13 with five RBIs, while Livulpi went 6-for-15 with four RBIs, despite having a nine-game streak halted in Saturday’s second game.

Jon Hambelton’s hitting streak ended Saturday at 10 games and he hit .125 (2-for-16) in the series. Senior second baseman Quin Peel went 5-for-13 with two RBIs.

Sophomore Joe Drapeau of Biddeford also turned in a strong two-way performance. He stroked six hits in 16 at-bats (.375) and caught four games in the absence of Alain Picard, who is suffering from a sore right arm.

Drapeau threw out five runners attempting to steal and picked another off at first in the series.