Bears focus on larger AE picture Series win over UMBC bigger than lone defeat

The Division I college baseball season is a long one.

For that reason, the University of Maine isn’t dwelling on Sunday’s disappointing 14-1 loss to Maryland Baltimore County.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ 19-10 Black Bears remain a viable contender for the America East championship after having won two of three games in their first two series.

“[After] a game like this, a team can go two ways: They can either back up and fall apart as a team, or they can go forward and be a better team because of it and I think we’re going to be a better team because of it in the long run,” said UMaine senior co-captain Greg Creek of Chelsea.

It was a nice homecoming weekend for the Bears, who played in front of two substantial crowds in beautiful weather on back-to-back days.

On Saturday, 561 fans turned out to watch UMaine sweep UMBC. A dedicated crowd of 478 showed up Sunday and, even though the Bears struggled mightily, most of the fans stayed for the entire game.

“They drive a long way to see us and they want to see a show,” said UMaine sophomore Ross Cantara of Biddeford. “Even if we don’t perform they’re going to stay here; they’re going to support us.”

A sizeable number of college students, many of them athletes from other sports, were in attendance last weekend. They were joined by a handful of youth groups from as far away as Madawaska.

Kostacopoulos, who preaches the importance of winning each weekend’s series as a key to earning one of the four tournament spots, knows that because of the baseball talent throughout the conference and the nature of baseball, sweeps are hard to come by.

“This was a pretty good weekend that we won two out of three,” Kostacopoulos said. “They’re [UMBC] a pretty good team that’s going to win some series.”

Looking for a starter

One of the Bears’ biggest concerns this week is finding a No. 3 starter for their weekend league series at Hartford.

Sophomore Steve Richard (5-0) and junior Greg Norton of South Portland (6-1) have been outstanding most of the season. Greg Creek had held down the third starting spot, but he has been pulled from the rotation because of a sore right arm.

“I’m just taking one day at a time getting stim [stimulation] on it,” explained Creek, who has been dealing with injuries all season. “Hopefully this week or the week after I’ll be ready to go and pitch again.”

Creek, who has made five starts, owns a 2-2 record with a 4.00 earned run average and 24 strikeouts in 27 innings.

With Creek recuperating, Kostacopoulos and his staff face the task of trying to get through their upcoming America East series with some pitching concerns.

Junior Troy Martin (3-2, 5.34 ERA, 3 saves, 21 strikeouts) started most of last season, but was moved to the bullpen this spring. He has established himself as a dependable middle-relief and setup man.

Now his role could change again.

“If we don’t need to use Troy to win a game on Saturday, I think you’ve got to use him as a starter on Sunday,” Kostacopoulos said.

The Bears will look for two strong starting performances by Richard and Norton and limited relief efforts from other staffers in the hope of saving Martin for Sunday.

“It’s not ideally the way you want to do it, but I think we really have to play it that way and we’ll see how things develop,” Kostacopoulos said.

Creek still on the mend

Creek, who is among UMaine’s top hitters, has played most of the season with a broken bone in his left wrist.

He was hit by a pitch in his second at-bat of the season in Florida, but has worked around it as best he could.

“We didn’t think it was broken, so I played the two weeks down there,” Creek said. “I came back and got an X-ray and it was broken.”

“I’ve been back and forth with that struggling, taking days off,” he added. “I’m just taping it up.”

Creek, who has missed six games, is the Bears’ fourth-leading hitter with a healthy .360 average, including four home runs and 15 RBIs. He leads UMaine with a .520 on-base percentage and a .653 slugging percentage.