Bears hope experience pays off Team back in Vermont for league playoff series

Last week’s emotional regular-season series against Vermont should prove valuable for the University of Maine baseball team.

The Black Bears played four games at the site of the America East Championship and were exposed to postseason-style pressure as they battled back for two victories to clinch a spot in the tournament.

Third-seeded UMaine (32-20-1) hopes to draw on those positives, and the memory of winning the conference title at Centennial Field last season, as it opens the four-team, double-elimination tournament today with a 3 p.m. game against No. 2 Stony Brook (23-27).

“Our backs were against the wall this past weekend, trying to get in,” said junior co-captain Joel Barrett of Brewer. “It showed that we can really come together as a team.”

Coach Steve Trimper fields a team with a blend of experience and youth as it chases a second straight AE title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

The Bears return four positional starters and five regulars from last season, but also have been utilizing as many as five freshman starters.

“This is our new season right now, our postseason,” Trimper said. “I think what helps us a lot is we’ve got an experienced bunch that’s been in conference situations, particularly the guys from last year that know what it’s like to win this thing.”

UMaine lacks the dominating front-line pitching of recent teams and instead will rely on its depth. Senior righthander Scott Robinson (8-3) heads a staff that ranks third in the league with a 5.30 earned run average.

The Bears have other solid starters in freshman Mike Powers of Portland (4-3), junior Josh Zyskowski (2-1) and freshman Jose Mendoza (3-1). Senior Troy Martin (6-4) can start or relieve, while frosh A.J. Balsinde and sophomore Jason Weymouth of Charleston have been productive.

“No other team has that experience,” Robinson said. “I’ll take our 5-6-7-8 deep guys against their [opponents] 5-6-7-8 deep guys. I have full confidence in our guys, especially with what they’re going to be throwing at us.”

Trimper concedes tournaments are won largely with pitching. He said the staff’s job at Vermont is to avoid major blowups and allow UMaine’s bats to wear opponents down.

“They’re just going to have to keep the big inning down and allow our ballclub to stay in the game offensively,” said Trimper, who believes the Bears are playing better defense of late.

“It puts a lot of stress when you get down some runs, but that’s not just on the pitchers. We’ve got to play good defense behind those guys and make routine plays,” he added.

This will mark the first postseason action for a handful of UMaine freshmen, including AE rookie of the year Kevin McAvoy of Brewer (third base), catcher Sean Parker, second baseman Danny Menendez, infielder Brian Hackett of Bangor and outfielder Billy Cather, along with Balsinde and Mendoza.

However, most of those players have more than 40 games under their belts, so McAvoy doesn’t expect pressure to be a factor.

“The tournament brings a lot of excitement to the team,” McAvoy said. “We’ve just got to go and deal with whatever comes at us. You can’t change anything, really. You’ve just got to do the same things you’ve been doing day to day, let things just take care of themselves.”

UMaine also welcomes the return of senior co-captain Ryan Quintal, who was suspended for five games after being charged May 16 with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicants.

Quintal, the left fielder, is batting .322 with a team-high eight homers and 56 RBIs. He ranks third in career RBIs at UMaine with 174.

“I think Ryan taught himself and the whole team a valuable lesson about life,” Trimper said. “I think what happened was his teammates picked up Ryan through the [Vermont] weekend, so this is a great opportunity for Ryan to focus on baseball and focus on his teammates and help us.”