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The University of Maine baseball team had hoped to gear up for conference play with two victories over the weekend.
Instead, the Black Bears came away with a couple of tough, one-run losses to Connecticut and Northeastern.
UMaine, now 12-11, is scheduled to play a 1 p.m. doubleheader today at Central Connecticut before moving into America East action with a three-game set Friday and Saturday against Northeastern in Brookline, Mass.
Coach Paul Kostacopoulos has said from the outset that this year’s ballclub would lack the offensive power of recent UMaine teams. While the Bears are averaging 5.3 runs per contest, they have been in a bit of a funk over the last four games.
UMaine had a difficult weekend, going a combined 10-for-61 (.164) while scoring three runs in the two games.
“We’re not going to have the big inning,” Kostacopoulos said. “We don’t hit a lot of home runs and we don’t string a lot of hits together.”
Overall, the Bears check in with a .279 team batting average that ranks second among America East teams. They have posted only 1.8 runs per game in their last four contests.
Kostacopoulos said UMaine must become a smart hitting team that makes good approaches at the plate, doesn’t become overanxious and gets good counts to hit.
The Bears have hit only 10 home runs in 23 games thus far after smacking 54 in 56 games last year.
Senior Simon Williams of Portland and junior Greg Creek of Chelsea have been the Bears’ steadiest hitters of late. Each has gone 5-for-17 (.294) in the last five games.
Creek continues to lead the way for UMaine with a .382 batting average, including a team-high 34 hits. Williams is getting warmed up after a slow start and has pushed his average to .278 with a team-leading eight stolen bases.
Pitching continues to be a strength for UMaine. The staff features a 3.68 earned run average and has allowed only 165 hits in 191 innings.
Senior righthander Mike MacDonald of Camden spread out eight hits over seven innings in Friday’s 2-1 loss at UConn, getting a no-decision. He checks in at 2-0 and lowered his era to 3.18.
Sophomore righty Greg Norton allowed six hits and two earned runs in five innings Saturday against Northeastern while slipping to 2-4.
The Bears have walked more batters this season, but still have a 1.6 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.
Trenkle is ECAC Player of Year
Lora Trenkle of Bowdoin College in Brunswick has been named the ECAC Division III Women’s Basketball New England Player of the Year.
Trenkle, a senior guard from Surry, led the Polar Bears with 13.9 points per game and 124 assists on their way to an NCAA Division III runner-up finish.
Joining Trenkle on the ECAC first team are Tiffany Jones and Jen Webster of the University of Southern Maine, Olivia Zurek of Bates, Allison Coleman of Eastern Connecticut and Danielle Fitzpatrick of Brandeis.
The second team includes Megan Myles of Southern Maine, Sarah DeLuca of Gordon, Margaret Miller of Williams, Rachael Turkington of Clark and Emmanuel’s Paulette Johnson.
Eileen Flaherty of Bowdoin received honorable mention.
Andrew St. Clair of Colby-Sawyer and Pittsfield and Nick Pelotte of Plymouth State and Bingham were men’s honorable mentions.
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