The University of Maine baseball team’s 5-3 start is the program’s best since 2003, when Paul Kostacopoulos guided his Black Bears to six wins through their first eight games.
“We’ve been throwing strikes and not leaving too many men on base,” fourth-year head coach Nick Derba said.
UMaine was preparing for a tough test this weekend against perennial league power Stony Brook, but the two-day, four-game series was postponed because of positive COVID-19 cases in the UMaine program.
“If you’re going to win a conference championship, you’re going to have to beat them at some point,” Derba said of Stony Brook. “They’re always in the mix.”
The pitching staff is throwing more strikes this season, averaging 0.46 walks per inning. UMaine doesn’t have a southern trip this year and hasn’t played powerhouses like in the past.
UMaine took three of four at Merrimack and two of three at Wagner and lost a single game to Atlantic Coast Conference school Boston College.
The catalysts for the Black Bears have been junior right-hander Nick Sinacola and freshman center fielder Jake Rainess, who were named the America East Pitcher of the Week and Rookie of the Week, respectively.
Sinacola is 2-0 with a 1.42 earned run average and 23 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings. Rainess is hitting .333 and has three home runs and 10 runs batted in. His grand slam highlighted an eight-run, ninth-inning rally that gave UMaine a 14-9 come-from-behind win over Merrimack.
Opponents are batting only .122 against Sinacola, who features a fastball, slider and split-fingered pitch.
Derba admitted he didn’t expect Rainess, a native of Baltimore who attended Bridgton Academy, to belt three homers in his first eight games.
South Portland freshman Noah Lewis (1-1, 2.31) has given the Black Bears a nice 1-2 punch at the top of the starting rotation. Opponents are hitting .171 against him.
Stetson University transfer Michael Bacica is the only other Black Bear with two starts and he is 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA and a .190 opponents batting average.
Former Hampden Academy standout Alex McKenney (2-0, 1.13 ERA, .115 batting average against) has headlined the bullpen corps. Andrew Ruggiero (2.70 ERA) and Brewer’s Matt Pushard (3.86, 9 strikeouts in 7 innings) each have a save.
UMaine’s team ERA is 4.16.
The Black Bears are hitting .280 and averaging 6.4 runs per game. They are led by sophomore third baseman Connor Goodman, who is batting .457 with two doubles and five RBIs.
Junior left fielder Jeff Mejia (.357, 8 RBIs), senior first baseman Joe Bramanti (.333, 1 homer, 4 RBIs) and freshman second baseman Quinn McDaniel from Marshwood High School in Eliot (.313, 1 homer) have also been swinging the bat well. Junior catcher Ryan Turenne is hitting .278.
Derba said another potential positive is the Nos. 3, 4 and 6 hitters in his lineup still haven’t gotten hot yet.
America East has switched to a two-division setup this season for its 40-game schedule. UMaine, Albany, UMass Lowell and Hartford are in Division A and Stony Brook, Binghamton, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County play in Division B.
Each team will play two, four-game series against teams in its own division and one against teams in the other division. The weekend doubleheaders include one seven-inning game and one nine-inning contest each day.
The top two teams in each division advance to the double-elimination tournament to be played at the home field of the top seed.
Derba said he likes the 40-game league schedule, especially since games will be lost to the weather and to the pandemic.
“It is important to play as many games as possible,” he said.
UMaine is scheduled to play its home-opening series with noon doubleheaders on March 27 and 28 against UMBC.