UMaine building on youth Bears’ home opener slated for Saturday

The University of Maine baseball team has been relegated to the field house this week as it prepares, weather permitting, to make its Mahaney Diamond debut this weekend.

The Black Bears head into a three-game America East series against Hartford on Saturday and Sunday with a 14-14 overall record and a 1-2 league mark after dropping two of three last weekend at Northeastern.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos is trying to keep his team focused as the revamped Bears endure some growing pains. With five new fulltime position players and only two senior regulars, UMaine players believe they have cause to be excited about the second half of the season.

“We’ve got youth, some of our guys haven’t played a lot, and it’s showing right now in a lot of games we’re playing,” said junior Greg Creek of Chelsea, who leads the Bears with a .371 batting average. “We’ll get through it eventually, but right now it’s been tough.”

The Bears have five underclassmen starting, including the designated hitter spot, with four of them in their first season of fulltime action at their positions.

UMaine’s inexperience is magnified in close ballgames, of which it has played several. The Bears are 3-7 in one-run games this season.

“I think we haven’t reacted well,” Kostacopoulos said of the tight situations. “I don’t know what the [players’] mind-set is, but I know we’ve got to do a better job winning close games.”

With the Bears finally scheduled to play at home after 28 consecutive games on the road, there is lots of baseball remaining. With 25 games left, including 18 America East contests, UMaine has time to get its bats going and solidify its pitching staff.

“We have a chance to get home and rejuvenate, but we’ve got to play better baseball,” Kostacopoulos said.

UMaine’s .276 batting average is second in the league behind Albany (.343), but the consistency has been lacking. Freshmen Matt McGraw (.337) and Joel Barrett (.319) join Creek as the only regulars above .300.

Veterans Joe Hough (.289) and Simon Williams (.281) have been steady, but Mike Ferriggi (.265), Ryan Quintal (.255), Aaron Izaryk (.233) and Jason Harvey (.205) have not yet gotten into a good groove.

“I think when you become that limited [offensively], it’s going to be hard to score,” Kostacopoulos said. “Hopefully, some guys will get rolling a little bit.”