Bears’ baseball bats cooling in the breeze 3 women’s hockey players sign with UM

ORONO – It’s final exam week at the University of Maine and the Black Bear baseball team has shifted its focus to the classroom.

UMaine has clinched a spot in the four-team America East Championship, which is scheduled May 23-25 at Mahaney Diamond and can’t be seeded lower than third for the double-elimination event.

Even so, coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ 34-14 Bears aren’t exactly on a roll as they prepare for their final regular-season series Friday and Saturday at Binghamton University (N.Y.).

UMaine, which split a four-game set with Stony Brook last weekend, has tailed off with the bats in recent weeks. In their last 12 league games, the Bears are batting .259 while averaging 4.7 runs per game.

While strong winds blowing in have undeniably hampered UMaine’s ability to hit the ball up the gaps and over the fence, especially the last four Saturdays in a row, the Bears have managed three runs or less in six of the last 12 games.

Neither Kostacopoulos nor the players seem overly concerned.

“We started swinging the bat a little bit better [against Stony Brook],” Kostacopoulos said. “We can’t let the results get in our head. We’ve just got to keep going at it.”

What is more surprising is the team’s lack of production in America East play. UMaine is hitting .266 against league opponents this season and key starters Alain Picard (.261), Mike Livulpi (.254), Joe Drapeau (.222), and Mike Ross (.222) have struggled.

Drapeau is among the Bears who aren’t thrilled about the inability to score runs consistently.

“When the dam does break, I just feel bad for whoever’s pitching, that’s all I’ve got to say,” Drapeau said. “It’s just a matter of time.”

While the Bears haven’t played their best ball of late, including some defensive lapses, there is plenty of confidence within the team about the prospects for the rest of the season.

“We’re very confident,” said Ross, a senior captain. “We have a very talented group of guys here. We’ve got to regroup, work on some things, get back to fundamentals, things we were doing earlier in the season.”

UMaine has put a positive spin on its recent slump, taking it as an opportunity to refocus.

“Losing two games in a row is good for us so we can fight back and come back strong [at Binghamton] and be ready for the playoffs right after that, get us back on the right track,” Picard said.

The keys for UMaine this week are to successfully complete exams, fine-tune their baseball skills, and try to generate some momentum heading into next week’s tournament.

“We need to turn this around into a very positive thing and having those four games this weekend should help us do that,” Kostacopoulos said.

UMaine women’s hockey signs three

UMaine women’s hockey coach Rick Filighera has signed three defensemen to National Letters of Intent.

Morgan Janusc of Dundas, Ontario, Vicky Johnstone of St. Laurent, Quebec, and Alanna Pfeffer of Farmington Hills, Mich., will join the program in the fall. Pfeffer will move to forward because the school’s all-time scoring leader, Raffi Wolf, will return to play defense after playing for Germany in the Winter Olympics.

Janusc and Pfeffer stand 5-foot-8 while Johnstone is 5-7.

“Size makes a difference. Because we can’t [body] check in women’s hockey, it’s important to have defensemen who are able to control opposing forwards,” said Filighera.

Janusc was a three-time MVP of her St. Mary’s High School team in Hamilton, Ontario. She had 23 goals and 19 assists in 17 games and posted three goals and 19 assists in 63 games for the North York Aeros (Senior AAA).

Johnstone played for the Hotchkiss Prep School in Connecticut, and Pfeffer had 12 goals and 22 assists in 60 games for the Honeybaked Hockey Club. Pfeffer was a league all-star and played for a Michigan select team.

Maine went 16-15-4 a year ago and qualified for the ECAC playoffs for the first time. The Bears return eight of their top nine scorers and two of their three goalies, but they did graduate longtime workhorse defensemen Kelly Nelson and Tracy Caridade.