College baseball

MAINE vs. ALBANY

Time, site: Friday (2), 2 p.m., Mahaney Diamond, Orono; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m., Mahaney Diamond, Orono, or Mansfield Stadium, Bangor

Records: Albany 5-23-1 (1-3 America East); Maine 10-13-1 (0-0)

Series, last meeting: Maine leads 14-10, Albany 15-5 on 4/29/07

Top hitters – Albany: LF Brendan Rowland (.353, 4 HRs, 15 RBIs), DH Dave West (.300, 4 HRs, 18 RBIs), 1B Mike Konstanty (.276, 6 HRs, 23 RBIs), C Ryan Gugel (.262, 3 HRs, 23 RBIs, 8 SBs); Maine (Through 4/9): 1B Curt Smith (.388, 6 HRs, 15 RBIs, 8 SBs), C Myckie Lugbauer (.375, 2 HRs, 18 RBIs), 3B Jarrett Lukas (.362, 1 HR, 11 RBIs), SS Tony Patane (.315, 2 HRs, 16 RBIs), CF Billy Cather (.292, 1 HR, 12 RBIs, 7 SBs)

Possible Pitching Matchups

Albany Great Danes Maine Black Bears

ERA W-L Ks ERA W-L Ks

RH Casey Walsh 6.95 0-5 23 RH Joe Miller 2.70 3-1 31

LH Cory Warrings 7.96 0-5 18 LH Kevin Scanlan 4.44 0-2 22

RH Josh Willimott 5.97 3-1 20 RH Matt Jebb 3.58 1-1 28

RH Dave Kubiak 4.91 0-0 9 RH Kyle Benoit 5.00 1-0 14

Outlook: The Black Bears finally open conference play, facing the defending AE champions. UMaine looks to keep its offense rolling against an Albany staff that owns a puffy 7.75 team ERA, worst in the league. The Bears, who beat Division III Husson Thursday, have found an effective pitching rhythm while playing outstanding defense of late. The Great Danes have lost four of their last five. Albany is batting only .256 as a team, averaging 4.7 runs, and has been suspect defensively.