BASEBALL

MAINE vs. NORTHEASTERN

Time, site: Friday (2), 4 p.m.; Saturday (2), 1 p.m.; Mahaney Diamond, Orono

Records: Maine 19-9 (3-1 America East); Northeastern 6-12 (1-3)

Series, last meeting: Maine leads 71-58; Maine 7-5 on 5/25/02

Top hitters – Maine: C Aaron Izaryk (.337, 2 HR, 22 RBI), 2B Brett Ouellette (.333, 5 HR, 25 RBI), 1B Jesse Carlton (.319, 3 HR, 16 RBI), RF Ryan Quintal (.316, 2 HR, 11 RBI), DH Alain Picard (.305, 2 HR, 29 RBI); Northeastern: 3B Tim Bush (.367, 8 RBI), SS Omar Pena (.317, 1 HR, 7 RBI), 1B Paul Koslowski (8 RBI), RF Chris Emanuele (.292, 8 RBI)

Possible Pitching Matchups

Northeastern Huskies Maine Black Bears

ERA W-L Ks ERA W-L Ks

RH Devin Monds 7.32 1-2 19 RH Mike MacDonald 2.88 4-2 45

RH Jordan Thomson 8.74 1-3 17 RH Mike Collar 3.48 4-2 50

RH Justin Hedrick 2.22 3-0 30 RH Greg Norton 3.44 3-1 32

RH Brendan Ryan 6.23 0-2 6 RH Greg Creek 4.22 3-0 22

Outlook: The Bears hope playing their first home series will help them get into another winning groove. UMaine lost a nonleague doubleheader Wednesday at Brown, and needs to get some of its key veterans swinging the bat better. The Bears have beaten the Huskies nine straight times dating back to the 2001 season. Northeastern has lost seven of its last nine as a couple of their better pitchers have struggled and the bats have been relatively cool. Hedrick is among AE’s most effective starters so far.

Softball

MAINE vs. ALBANY

Time, site: Friday (2), 2 p.m.; Saturday (2), 11 a.m.; Kessock Field, Orono

Records: Albany 17-5 (4-1 America East), Maine 15-13 (4-2)

Last meeting: Albany 4-0 on 5/10/02

Top hitters – Albany: INF Katrina Dunning (.364, 6 RBIs), INF Maegan Larsen (.328, 15 RBIs, 7 SBs), 1B-3B Megan Craft (.316, 6 RBIs), P-1B Andrea Lindgren (.311, 5 RBIs); Maine: CF Jess Brady (.367, 11RBI, 16 SB), SS Brittany Cheney (.366, II RBIs. 8 SB), C Amanda Stevens (.286, 2 RBIs), 1B-DH Amy Kuhl (.270, 7 RBIs)

Pitching Matchups

Albany Great Danes Maine Black Bears

ERA W-L Ks ERA W-L Ks

LH Andrea Lingren 1.11 9-3 71 RH Jenna Merchant 1.83 7-7 91

RH Kristen Couris 1.67 5-1 25 RH Sarah Bennis 2.49 7-5 41

Outlook: The consistency Merchant and Bennis showed in last weekend’s four-game sweep of Stony Brook will be a key to this series as the Great Danes are the league’s hottest-hitting team. Albany’s batting average of .288 leads the conference. Albany will be tough in the circle, too, with a league-low 1.23 ERA. The Danes can also bring in righty Danielle Buyea, who has a .81 ERA with four saves. Kuhl went 6-for-13 in last weekend’s games. Merchant pitched two shutouts; Bennis gave up just two runs in two games.