UMPI baseball team makes strides

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The University of Maine-Presque Isle baseball team wanted to make up for lost time. So it did.

The Owls played four games against two teams in one day last Saturday in Massachusetts.

They went 0-3-1.

“I had never done that before,” said Owls senior third baseman Brian Morrison. “By the end, it was very tiring. But it was definitely something I’ll be able to tell people about later on down the road.”

Weather is creating havoc all across the state but nothing compares with the situation in Presque Isle.

“We still have three feet of snow on our field,” said second-year coach Ryan Lauriat, noting they won’t be able to play any home games this season.

The Owls practice in the gym but occasionally go into the parking lot to throw if the weather permits.

The only full outdoor practice they’ve had since returning from their spring trip to Florida was before a game against Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire in late March.

Lauriat takes things in stride.

“You can’t dwell on things you don’t have or you aren’t going to have. You have to take the situation in front of you and roll with it. Mother Nature is out of your power,” said Lauriat, who tries to be creative with his indoor drills.

The young Owls are 3-9-1 with six freshmen and two sophomores among their 14 players.

Lauriat said he has good, disciplined hitters. They don’t have any power but are hitting over .300 and are effective situational hitters.

“We’re really good at moving the runners. We play small ball,” said Lauriat.

The pitching has been respectable with an earned run average “around 4.23” according to Lauriat.

But the biggest problem has been defense, due in part to the fact they can’t practice outdoors.

“Our defense is suspect, at best. I’m confident that if we got outside regularly, we’d cut down on our errors,” said Lauriat.

The starting lineup consists of Morrison at third, Auburn’s Brandon Elie at shortstop, Tyler Delaney at second and Millinocket’s D.J. Charette at first.

Plymouth’s Corey Harding is the left fielder; Shane Dupuis starts in center and Hiram’s David deKay plays right field.

East Wilton’s Jason Shaw is the catcher and Auburn’s Adam Bickford is usually the designated hitter.

Elie, Dupuis, Wilton’s Tyson Weeks and Harding comprise the pitching staff and deKay and Delaney can also pitch.

Calais’ Craig Moody can play second or the outfield; Gouldsboro’s Victor Jacques plays second and East Falmouth’s Joshua Parks plays the infield.

Morrison and Elie are among the offensive catalysts along with Dupuis, Harding and Shaw.

The Owls, who were 5-10 last year after some winless seasons, are ahead of schedule in their development.

“We’re accelerating faster than expected,” said Lauriat. “Our goal this year is to get to .500 and we still have a shot at that.”

“We’ve progressed so much over my four years,” said Morrison. “It’s been incredible.”

The team drove two vans to Florida for their spring trip.

“We all love to play the game,” said Morrison.

Lauriat has nothing but praise for his players.

“They’d all run through a wall for me,” said Lauriat, whose Owls visit UM-Farmington for two games Saturday and Colby for two Sunday.

Husson softball rebounds well

A spring trip to Florida wasn’t a success in the win-loss column for the Husson College softball team. The Eagles of Bangor came home with a 1-9 record, then dropped four more games to Saint Joseph’s of Standish and Brandeis.

But the Eagles have come alive in North Atlantic Conference play. Husson is 5-0 in the NAC under first-year head coach Amanda Davey and leads the conference’s East Division.

Husson and second-place Thomas (2-0) were to play a doubleheader Wednesday, but weather and field conditions forced a postponement.

The Eagles were able to get on the artificial turf at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine Saturday and they pounded conference foe Wheelock of Boston 16-1 and 9-1.

“The teams down in Florida were pretty good,” said senior pitcher Alicia LaGrange of Belgrade. “We made a lot of errors and we struck out a lot. A lot. That was a huge thing for us. When we got back our bats started to come around, which happened in the one game we won down in Florida. Once our bats started to come around we got some confidence.”

The NAC quarterfinals begin May 1. Husson has at least nine conference games left on its schedule, depending on postponements due to the weather.

Shawna Bell of Corinth leads Husson with a .377 batting average followed by Michelle Mulherin of Milo (.364), Cassie Berry of Damariscotta (.345) and Jenny Rollins of Corinth (.339).

Ashlee Paschal leads Husson’s regular pitchers with a 3.87 earned run average. LaGrange has a 5.43 ERA.

The Eagles have adjusted well to Davey, who played catcher at Division I St. Bonaventure and served as the interim head coach at Wayne State.

“She knows the game very well and she knows what we need to work on,” LaGrange said. “If we don’t hit well in one game, the next day of practice it’s 10 stations of hitting. And we still do conditioning every day even we’re in the middle of the season. It’s, get in shape and stay in shape.”