He has wanted to try switch-hitting for several years. But his coaches wouldn’t let him.

University of Maine Coach John Winkin gave junior center fielder Chad White the okay to try switch-hitting last fall and the results have been dramatic.

White, who had been strictly a righthanded hitter, has returned from the Black Bears’ 8-9 spring trip as the team’s leading hitter among regulars at .357. The Brewer native leads the team in runs batted in with 17 and slugging percentage (.482) and he shares the team lead in hits (20), doubles (5), triples (1), total bases (27) and stolen bases (2).

“I’ve been really surprised,” said White. “It still feels strange hitting from the left side. But I’ve hit a lot of line drives from that side. I’m seeing the ball almost as well as I do from the right side now. I’m a lot quicker (with the bat) from the right side. That’s why I’m still going to the opposite field a lot when I hit lefty. I’ve got a slow, looping swing.”

Winkin said he hasn’t been surprised by White’s performance.

“He has a very natural lefthanded swing,” said Winkin. “He almost looks at the ball better from the left side. He’s that much more focused and has better concentration because he’s trying so hard to meet the ball. All he has to do now is become an adept bunter from the left side.”

“He hasn’t surprised me because he hit the ball pretty well lefthanded in the fall,” said senior second baseman and co-captain Tim Scott. “With his speed, all he needs to do is get the ball on the ground somewhere to the left side and it’s pretty tough to throw him out.

“Chad has come up in some big situations for us and he’s gotten the hits when we needed them,” added Scott. “He always puts the ball in play.”

“It seemed like I was getting my hits with men on base on the trip,” said White. “I concentrate a lot harder with men in scoring position.”

White began laying the foundation for his early-season success last May when he was named to the All-ECAC and All-NCAA Northeast Regional Tournament teams. White went 11-for-20 (.550) in the ECAC Tournament and 7-for-20 (.350) in the Northeast Regional.

He went on to play summer baseball for the Staunton (Va.) Braves in the prestigious Shenandoah Valley League and hit .303.

“I didn’t have much confidence last year. I started getting down on myself because I didn’t produce the way that I should be,” said White. “But my teammates kept encouraging me with their positive attitudes and I came on at the end of the season. The way I hit in the regionals and over the summer showed me I could play with anybody.”

White has spent most of his career hitting in the ninth spot in the order but, in the Rollins College (Fla.) Tournament during the second week of Maine’s spring trip, Winkin moved White to sixth, second and the lead-off spots.

Winkin indicated that White will remain in the No. 2 spot in the order behind Shanan Knox for Maine’s game at Pace University (N.Y.) on Friday and North Atlantic Conference-opening four-game series at Delaware over the weekend.

“I like hitting higher in the order,” said White. “You can do a lot more things like using the hit-and-run and bunting the runners over. You can help the team a lot more. When I was hitting ninth, I’d get up with nobody on a lot or I’d lead off an inning.”

White, who was named to the All-Tournament teams at Southwestern Louisiana and Rollins, said he still has quite a ways to go as a lefthanded hitter. He wants to get much quicker with the bat and improve his bunting.

But the man who overcame a case of strep throat at the outset of the spring trip is certainly off to an impressive start.

Down the Line….Maine will probably be without first baseman Gabe Duross this weekend. Duross has a separated shoulder.