The University of Maine baseball team’s recently concluded NCAA Tournament run did not go unnoticed by at least one former Black Bear now toiling in the minor leagues.

Former outfielder Simon Williams – who now patrols center field for the Swing of the Quad Cities, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Single-A affiliate – would rush home to get the latest updates on the Black Bears’ postseason fortunes after each of his games the last two weeks.

“I played with most of those guys. It’s awesome. They deserve it,” said Williams, who concluded his UM career last year. “I checked the Internet every night to see how they did.

“It’s great to see them do so well. We really have a top program in New England.”

The Black Bears came back from being one strike away from elimination in the America East conference tournament to winning the AE title, winning their first NCAA regional game since 1991, and throwing a giant scare into Big 12 Conference power Oklahoma at the regional in Oxford, Miss., before finishing their season with a 35-19 record.

Williams, who is batting .270 with four home runs and 19 RBIs with seven steals in nine attempts, credits UMaine and head coach Paul Kostacopoulos for helping him develop into a professional ballplayer.

“I owe a lot to UMaine and Kosty, without question,” said the Portland native. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.”

Williams was an 11th-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004.

“We stressed fundamentals a lot and did the same things over and over again for four years. Eventually it became instinctive for me, and that’s a huge advantage.”

Williams has committed only one error in 48 games.

“Yeah, but that was on a really crappy field,” he said.

Major minor-league attendance

Attendance for minor league baseball games is ahead of last year’s record turnout as almost six million fans flooded through the turnstiles in the month of April.

According to a Minor League Baseball press release, April’s attendance figure of 5,894,835 fans is up 584,952, or 11 percent, over last year’s same period with seven of the 11 affiliated leagues reporting double-digit increases. This year’s figure was aided by the season opening a day earlier than last year and improved weather conditions. Those two advantages translated into 60 more playing dates.

The 176 affiliated teams in 11 leagues averaged 3,717 fans for each of the 1,586 game dates – an increase of 237 fans per date.

Attendance for Portland Sea Dogs games this season is down, however, due primarily to rainy weather. The Dogs, who have already had a record nine home games rained out just a third of the way through this season, averaged 708 fewer fans per game last month (from 5,349 in 2004 to 4,641).

The 39,887,755 fans who attended affiliated minor-league ballgames last season was an all-time record in the 103-year history of minor-league ball.

Rainy day people

The Portland Sea Dogs have established a franchise record for rainouts just two months into their five-month regular-season schedule with nine. The previous record was six (in 2003).

Exchanging tickets for rained-out games is fairly easy. All fans have to do is go to the Hadlock Field ticket office and exchange their rainout game tickets for those of equal or lesser value to games not already sold out. Tickets are subject to availability and exchanges are encouraged to be made as soon as possible since many summer home dates become sellouts.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net