MAINE vs. RHODE ISLAND, NEW YORK TECH

Time, site: Friday, 2:30 p.m., 9-inning game, Kingston, R.I.; Saturday (2), Sunday (2), noon, Old Westbury, N.Y.

Records: Maine 9-6; Rhode Island 7-11; New York Tech 2-9

Series, last meeting: Maine leads URI 55-49-2, Maine 6-5 in 1999; Maine leads NY Tech 8-3, NY Tech 8-3 on 3/30/02

Top hitters – Maine: C Aaron Izaryk (.347, 14 RBI), DH Alain Picard (.345, 1 HR, 19 RBI), 1B Jesse Carlton (.342, 3 HR, 12 RBI), 2B Brett Ouellette (.327, 1 HR, 13 RBI); URI: 3B Dan Batz (.443, 7 RBI), 2B Wayne Russo (.293, 2 RBI), RF Matt Sullivan (.292, 1 HR, 17 RBI); NY Tech: SS Mike Gaffney (.395, 7 RBI), CF Rick Mundy (.357, 1 RBI), 3B Mike MacMillan (.333, 6 RBI), 1B Joe Smith (.326, 3 RBI)

Possible Pitching Matchups

Maine Black Bears Rhode Island Rams

ERA W-L Ks ERA W-L Ks

RH Greg Norton 3.18 2-0 18 LH Mike Harris 11.70 0-5 11

Maine Black Bears New York Tech Bears

ERA W-L Ks ERA W-L Ks

RH Mike MacDonald 4.05 1-2 19 Andrew Karkoulas 2.31 1-2 13

RH Mike Collar 5.12 1-2 19 Wayne Seder 4.50 0-1 6

RH Ryan Harris 4.50 1-1 19 Chris Perez 5.54 0-1 8

RH Greg Creek 2.77 2-0 13 Kyle Patten 21.60 0-2 3

Outlook: The Bears open their northern schedule with a game against the Rams, then visit Long Island for a series at New York Tech. UMaine looks to begin polishing its pitching rotation while getting some work for its relief corps. The Bears want to boost their run production and get senior Joe Drapeau (.235) in a groove. URI is prepping for a weekend Atlantic 10 series, thus likely won’t throw its top three starters. The Rams have only a .257 team batting average and have a 7.55 team ERA. URI (32 stolen bases) will run when given the chance. The NYIT Bears also have been unspectacular with the bats (.266) and don’t steal many bases. UMaine and NYIT split a four-game set last season in New York.