Baseball
MAINE vs. UMASS LOWELL
Time, site: 1 p.m. Saturday (2), 1 p.m. Sunday, Mahaney Diamond, Orono
Records: Maine 12-27 (2-9 America East), UMass Lowell 17-20 (5-10 AE)
Series, last meeting: Maine leads 4-2, UML 10-6 on 4/11/15
Key players: Maine — 3B Danny Casals (.308, 3 home runs, 13 runs batted in, 11 stolen bases), LF Colin Ridley (.288-4-24), RF Tyler Schwanz (.277-4-20, 6 SB), 1B Brenden Geary (.258-2-12, 7 SB), CF Brett Chappell (.257-3-16, 5 SB); UML — OF Joe Consolmagno (.288-1-19, 10 SB), 1B Steve Passatempo (.261-8-35), OF Chris Sharpe (.221-0-13), 2B Oscar Marchena (.219-0-15)
Pitching matchups: Maine — RH Logan Fullmer (2-1, 2.38 earned run average, 50 strikeouts), RH John Arel (0-7, 4.37, 50 K), RH Chris Murphy (0-2, 7.18, 33 K); UML — RH Andrew Ryan (3-4, 2.15, 46 K), RH Steve Xirinachs (1-5, 3.25, 25 K), RH Nick Kuzia (2-5, 4.24, 27 K)
Game notes: The Black Bears are badly in need of some confidence and momentum as they sit last in the conference, 2½ games out of fifth place. UMaine continues to be plagued by a lack of offensive punch (.248, 3.7 runs per game) and has lost four of its last five before edging Rhode Island 1-0 in the second game of a Tuesday doubleheader. The River Hawks also have lost four of five, including a 9-4 setback to Harvard on Wednesday. UML, which remains ineligible for the AE tournament during its four-year transition to Division I status, also has struggled offensively with a league-low .231 team batting average. However, the River Hawks are setting the pace with a conference-best 3.50 ERA, having given up only 288 hits in 311 innings.
Softball
MAINE vs. HARTFORD
Time, site: Saturday, noon (2); Sunday 11 a.m.; West Hartford, Connecticut
Records: Maine 20-18 (7-4 America East), Hartford 6-36 (2-9)
Last meeting: Maine 10-0 on 4/26/15
Key players: Maine — C Janelle Bouchard (.392-3 home runs-28 runs batted in), LF/C Rachel Harvey (.342-2-14), 3B Maddie Decker (.339-2-17), CF Rachel Carlson (.330-0-14), 3B Meghan Royle (.324-2-10), 3B-RF Alyssa Derrick (.298-7-32), RF Erika Leonard (.294-1-11, 17 stolen bases, 28 runs); Hartford — CF Jenice Aloyo (.284-0-4, 14 SBs), RF Peyton Fisher (.271-0-12, 10 SBs), 3B Danielle DeMarco (.256-3-14, 16 runs), P-DH Lexi Wilkerson (.237-0-5), 2B Marisa Ferguson (.227-0-6), SS Kylie Dazalla (.223-0-2), C Sawyer Fried (.217-0-7)
Pitching matchups: Maine — LH Erin Bogdanovich (6-4, 3.37 earned run average), RH Molly Flowers (8-10, 2.91, 117 strikeouts in 86⅔ inns.), RH Annie Kennedy (6-4, 2.75); Hartford — RH Bianca Ross (4-14, 4.39), RH Lexi Wilkerson (2-12, 5.87), RH Melissa Pereira (0-3, 4.47)
Game notes: The Black Bears had their hopes of winning the regular-season title and hosting the league tournament all but dashed last weekend when they dropped two of three games at Albany. Maine must win its last six games and get a lot of help to claim the championship. Albany is 9-1 in the conference, Binghamton is 10-2 and Stony Brook is 9-5. Hartford has lost six of its last seven games. Royle was the America East Rookie of the Week, hitting .375 in five games. Maine has won the last five meetings and is 9-6 over the last 15 games. Hartford is hitting just .221 and has scored only 2.1 runs per game. Maine is hitting .303 as a team while averaging five runs per contest.