LOS ANGELES – Most members of the 2002 University of Maine baseball team are aware of the program’s tremendous success during the last 25 years of the 20th century.

Maine appeared in 11 NCAA regionals and six College World Series from 1975 through 1993.

The Black Bears hope to build on that tradition beginning tonight when they compete in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional Tournament at the University of Southern California.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ team, the America East champion and the No. 3 seed, takes a 40-15 record into its 10 p.m. first-round game against 15th-ranked and second-seeded Cal State Northridge (40-15) at Dedeaux Field.

In the 6 p.m. opener, tourney host and No. 1 seed Southern California (34-22) takes on fourth-seeded Brigham Young (29-29-1).

The losers in the four-team, double-elimination event play Saturday at 2 p.m., while the winners square off at 6 p.m. The winner of the early game and the loser of the 6 p.m. contest then meet in a 10 p.m. elimination contest.

UMaine players are taking a workmanlike approach as the Bears make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1993. But knowing the history of the program serves as added motivation.

“Our program is already nationally known from what they have accomplished, but most recently we’ve been pretty quiet,” said junior Joe Drapeau of Biddeford. “We’re going to play hard and try to represent Maine, try to play our game. We don’t want to get embarrassed, definitely not.”

Kostacopoulos has made sure the Bears don’t approach the regional as an end-of-season bonus.

“We’ve got to get focused on playing well,” Kostacopoulos said. “If your mindset’s not there, there’s no way, with that caliber of competition or this much riding on it, that you’re going to be successful.”

The Bears are riding a four-game winning streak after losing the opening game of the America East Championship, then roaring back to win it. UMaine received outstanding hitting, sharp defense, and clutch pitching last weekend.

The players are looking for that success to carry over.

“We’ve got a very good club,” Drapeau said. “We’ve got a team that works hard and knows their roles. Every kid on this team is going to play as hard as they can.”

Against a team the caliber of Big West champion Cal State Northridge, which has been playing games since early February and has been blessed with good weather in which to practice, the Bears will have to be at their best.

“Anyone who is going to be successful in these regionals has no margin of error because the teams are too good,” said Kostacopoulos, who guided Providence College to NCAA Regional appearances in 1992 and ’95. “They’ll capitalize on your mistakes.”

With that in mind, UMaine realizes it must focus on the task at hand without getting too emotionally high or low during the course of the games.

“We know there’s some more-talented teams than us, but our strength as a team is that we work our butts off,” said junior catcher Alain Picard. “We never quit.”

The Bears hope to look back on their three-game series against then top-ranked Clemson as a measure of the regional competition. While UMaine lost all three games, it should prove beneficial.

“This is a huge challenge and this is where the Clemson series helps out,” Kostacopoulos said. “At least we’ve seen it once before.”

Mike MacDonald of Camden gets tonight’s start for the Bears. The sophomore righthander has been UMaine’s most effective pitcher in recent weeks as the No. 2 man in the rotation.

“Mac’s hot right now,” Kostacopoulos said. “You’ve got to go with the hot guy and see what happens. Mac’s much more rested [than Mike Collar].”

Collar is scheduled to start the Bears’ first game on Saturday.

The Matadors are likely to counter with a lefthander, either Bill Murphy or Andy Davidson, who have combined for 20 victories and 189 strikeouts.

“It looks like they have two superior lefthanded pitchers,” Kostacopoulos said. “If you’re on the West Coast and you’ve got 40 wins, you’re good,” he said of Northridge.

UMaine also is expected to have the services of standout Simon Williams of Portland. The sophomore outfielder has been sidelined most of the last three weeks with an injury to his left shoulder.

Williams, who leads UMaine in batting average (.373), runs scored (55), and triples (4), won’t play in the field. Instead, he’ll be available to hit.

“He came from the doctor, who reassured him it’s just an impinged strain [of the rotator cuff],” Kostacopoulos said of the injury. “We can use him as the DH against lefthanders. He’s a threat to steal a base and to hit a home run, too.”

Otherwise, the Bears are healthy and ready to rekindle the UMaine tradition.