Martin heads UMaine baseball recruits

Less than three months after being named the head baseball coach at the University of Maine, Steve Trimper has put together his first recruiting class.

Joe Martin, an outfielder from Portland High School, is among the six players who have signed National Letters of Intent to play baseball for the Black Bears beginning in 2006-07.

The signees include Matt Howard of Weston, Mass., Kevin Jackson of Wappingers Falls, N.Y., Myckie Lugbauer of Mahopac, N.Y., Lee Verweel of Toronto, Ontario, and Chris Wojick of Uncasville, Conn.

“I am very pleased with this year’s recruiting class,” Trimper said. “The coaching staff has been working hard to try to not only fill the voids we will have with graduation, but find quality student-athletes that will represent the UMaine baseball community [well].”

Martin is a 6-foot-1, 176-pounder. He batted .340 last spring, earning all-state honorable mention. He followed up his high school season by batting .438 with 11 home runs and 41 runs batted in for the Andrews Post American Legion team en route to being named a Northeast Regional All-Star.

“It is and will always be important for us to have the best baseball players in the state of Maine play for the Black Bears and we are excited to have Joe play for us,” Trimper said.

The versatile Howard (6-3, 195) is an outfielder/shortstop who batted a league-leading .475 in 2004 with three homers, 20 RBIs and a school-record 28 stolen bases for Weston High School. He sat out last season because of an injury.

Jackson (5-10, 190), an outfielder/first baseman, is a three-time all-league, all-county and all-section performer at Ketcham High School. Last spring he batted .429 with a .570 on-base percentage, drawing 28 walks, to help his 30-2 team win a state championship.

Lugbauer (6-4, 205) hit .394 with five homers and 35 RBI for Mahopac High, earning first-team all-star honors while emerging as the MVP of the New York State American Legion Tournament. He can catch and play first base.

Verweel (6-4, 190), a lefthanded pitcher, posted a 7-2 record with a 2.40 earned run average and 63 strikeouts in 44 innings last season at Malvern Collegiate High School.

Wojick (6-0, 175) is an accomplished pitcher and catcher. He went 3-2 with a 0.72 ERA in 2005 for Montville High, striking out 32 in 24 innings. Wojick also batted .318 with five doubles, 12 RBIs and 15 stolen bases.

“Chris is a unique recruit in that he has outstanding skills as a catcher and has the ability to become a top Division I pitcher,” Trimper said.

All NLI signings are contingent upon admission to UMaine and compliance with NCAA rules.

UMaine opens its season Feb. 24 at Mississippi.

Maine volleyball players honored

Three University of Maine volleyball players were named to the All-America East first team during the conference awards banquet Thursday night in Albany, N.Y.

Seniors Shannan Fotter and Kaili Jordan, along with junior Shelly Seipp, were selected as league all-stars while freshmen Lindsay Allman and Amy Lawson earned All-Rookie honors.

Coach Lynn Atherley’s third-seeded Black Bears play No. 2 Binghamton in tonight’s 8 o’clock America East semifinal match.

Fotter and Jordan were first-team picks for the second straight year.

Fotter leads UMaine in hitting percentage (.299) and kills (283) and ranks fifth and eighth, respectively, in the league in those categories. Jordan is 10th in America East in points per game (3.51) and Seipp is second in the league with 944 assists and 0.57 service aces per game.

Senior co-captain Leah Guidinger was an honorable mention choice.