The University of Maine’s baseball team won 12 overall games last season and just eight America East games. It finished last in the league and was the only team not to make the six-team playoffs.
With 17 games still remaining including 12 conference games, the Black Bears have already exceeded last year’s overall win total with 13 and have equalled last season’s America East win total.
UMaine’s three-game road sweep of Albany over the weekend improved its overall record to 13-20 and its conference record to 8-4.
UMaine has now won five in a row and eight of its last 10 games.
Following a 3-2 victory on Friday, the Black Bears swept the Great Danes 11-3 and 12-1 on Sunday. Rain forced the postponement of Saturday’s game so they played a doubleheader on Sunday.
“We played well. It’s tough to win at Albany,” said UMaine coach Nick Derba, who was pleased to see his team put together three good performances and earn the sweep.
UMaine had gone just 2-4 vs. the Great Danes a year ago.
The Black Bears received top-notch starts from redshirt juniors Colin Fitzgerald and Caleb Leys along with junior Gianni Gambardella. And the UMaine offense supported them with 38 hits and 26 runs.
On Friday, Fitzgerald tossed seven innings of seven-hit, two-run baseball with seven strikeouts and five walks to earn his co-league-leading fifth win in eight decisions. Sebastian Holt came on to get the final six outs and earn his league-leading seventh save.
On Sunday, Leys threw five innings of three-hit, two-run ball with one walk and seven strikeouts in the 11-3 win. Both runs were unearned. He improved to 3-1.
Tommy Martin finished up with two innings of one-hit, one-run ball with no walks and three strikeouts.
It was a seven inning game.
Gambardella allowed only one hit and no runs over six innings of the nightcap with four strikeouts and no walks. He is now 3-2.
The game was called after seven innings due to the mercy rule.
Jason Libby allowed a run but didn’t give up a hit in the seventh.
Junior catcher Dean O’Neill was the hitting star over the weekend, going 9-for-14 with six runs batted in. Junior center fielder Brody Rasmussen went 6-for-11 with four RBIs and freshman third baseman Evan Menzel and senior second baseman Jason Sargent each went 5-for-11 with three RBIs.
Leys, Fitzgerald and Gambardella are in the top five in America East in earned-run average with Leys leading the league (2.77), Fitzgerald third-best at 4.20 and Gambardella fifth at 5.08.
Leys has now allowed just one earned run in his last four starts, covering 21 innings with 31 strikeouts and eight walks. Gambardella has surrendered only four earned runs and nine hits over his last three starts over 18 ⅓ innings with 18 strikeouts and three walks.
Leys and Fitzgerald are first and third in strikeouts in the league with 51 and 47, respectively.
Leys is also atop the pitching statistics when it comes to opposing batting averages, as hitters have hit just .236 against him. Fitzgerald is fifth (.270) and Gambardella is seventh (.274).
Derba said he was happy with his team’s aggressive baserunning, noting that runners went from first to third on a base hit “around 13 times” over the weekend.
“We’re trying to advance,” said Derba.
Menzel is hitting .389 to lead the regulars. He has a homer and 10 RBIs. Sargent is hitting .330 with six homers and 24 RBIs. Freshman Aidan Bardi (.317-0-5), O’Neill (.309-5-21), Rasmussen (.289-4-19) and redshirt junior first baseman Drew Reynolds (.270-4-23) have also been highly productive at the plate.
UMaine is in second place in America East with its 8-4 record. The New Jersey Institute of Technology is at 7-2 to lead the league and its only two losses came to UMaine.
Bryant is 5-4 and UMaine’s upcoming opponent this weekend, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, is at 6-6. Binghamton and UMass Lowell are each 5-7 and Albany is 3-9.
UMaine will host a non-conference game against UMaine Farmington on Wednesday at 4p.m. before UMBC comes to Orono for games on Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
“Our goal right now is to win the regular season title — or at least finishing in the top two,” said Derba.
The top two teams earn first-round byes in the six-team conference tournament, which will be held at UMaine’s Mahaney Diamond on May 20-24.
