ORONO – The University of Maine is a much better baseball team when Alain Picard is catching.

The Black Bears are 14-2 this season when Picard is behind the plate. When he’s not, the Bears are 12-11 in 2002.

Picard is hitting .500 with 21 RBIs when he’s catching this spring as compared to .324 with 20 RBIs as the DH.

The difference is dramatic. The challenge has been keeping the junior from Ste.-Foy, Quebec, healthy enough to play in the field on a regular basis.

“My dream one day is to have a season without an injury. That would be awesome,” Picard said. “I’ve been having such bad luck.”

Despite dealing with a weightlifting-related shoulder injury and a hamstring pull, Picard has emerged as one of the top hitters in America East. Coach Paul Kostacopoulos hopes he’ll be catching this weekend when UMaine takes on Hartford in an America East series at Mahaney Diamond.

“His impact is obviously huge,” Kostacopoulos said. “Hopefully we can get this [shoulder] injury out of the way so he can get out there, play regularly the rest of the year and in the Cape Cod League, so he can start to build his future in the game.”

Picard has been one of the mainstays in the UMaine offense again this season. He ranks second in the league with a .402 batting average and leads America East with 16 doubles.

The 6-foot, 205-pounder has belted five home runs and is second in America East behind teammate Joe Drapeau with 42 RBIs. He has produced despite missing five games with a hamstring pull and being relegated to designated hitter duties in 18 of the Bears’ 39 games.

“He’s very much a pure hitter,” Kostacopoulos said. “He’s become a complete hitter.”

Picard has been beset by injuries ever since his arrival in Orono. Last season, he caught only 10 of the 39 games in which he played because of tendinitis in his right elbow. The condition forced him to take last summer off from baseball.

“I worked six months trying to rehab that and it finally paid off,” said Picard, who hasn’t had any further trouble with the elbow.

In Canada, hockey is king. And while Picard played hockey as a youngster, it came a distant second to playing catcher. At the urging of his mother Nadia, Alain spent his last two years of high school at St. Thomas Aquinas High in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he could improve his chances of playing college ball in the United States and work toward his ultimate goal of playing professionally.

“I had to get pretty fluent in English so I could go to college,” Picard said. “I already spoke English pretty well, but I needed to be able to write better.”

Picard also earned a spot on the Canadian Junior National Team, where he caught the eye of Kostacopoulos, who has admired Picard’s work ethic, even in the face of frequent setbacks.

“Alain doesn’t play this game as a task. He plays it with a great deal of enjoyment,” Kostacopoulos said.

Picard is a skilled hitter. He uses the whole field, possesses good power and seldom is overmatched. He also has good speed, having stolen nine bases in 12 attempts.

“If I don’t hit well and then if I play good defense, that makes up for it,” Picard said of being able to play in the field. “It kills me to watch somebody else catch.”

Kostacopoulos said Picard’s defensive abilities instill confidence in the pitchers, because they know he’ll block any errant pitches. Further, his presence enables the Bears to utilize other players in the lineup, because the DH spot is freed up.

Earlier this season, Picard made a run at Brian Seguin’s school-record 27-game hitting streak. He registered a hit in each of his first 23 games before the run ended April 27 at Vermont.

“It just ended randomly, not because I was thinking about it,” said Picard, who was unaware of the UMaine mark.

Picard appears to be healing up again as he has caught four of UMaine’s last five games. Regardless of his health status, he will find a way to contribute.

“I never give up,” Picard said. “When I get an injury, I always try to fight back and come back. In baseball, you’ve got to play with injuries.”