ORONO, Maine — University of Maine head baseball coach Nick Derba is fully aware of his team’s dismal offensive showing so far this season.
And he is taking steps to rectify the situation as the 2-21 Black Bears prepare to play a home-opening, three-game America East series against the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (12-11) this weekend.
The two teams are at the bottom of the America East standings as UMBC is 1-5 and UMaine is 1-4.
UMaine is last in virtually every offensive category, hitting a woeful .192 and being held to one run or less in 11 of its 23 games. It has been shut out seven times and has scored only 55 runs.
The Black Bears are averaging just 5.8 hits per game.
UMaine has played the nation’s second-toughest schedule but Derba expected much more out of his team in last weekend’s three losses at Stony Brook during which it scored only six runs in three games and hit .174 as a team with 22 strikeouts.
“That has been my biggest disappointment this season,” Derba said. “We didn’t do things that we were able to do against the best teams in the country.
“I don’t mean going out and smoking the baseball, but we weren’t aggressive with the bats. When we were swinging the bat, we were swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. That makes things very difficult. And we were taking strikes,” Derba said.
“That is totally backwards.”
Derba and his staff have been working with the players on their mechanics and other aspects of hitting.
“We need to spend more time coaching these guys. Some things are missing from a mental standpoint. Forgetting about details drives me crazy, the small things like moving the runners,” he said. “I’m going to tighten the reins on some things. It’s time to push the ball forward. The warden is back.”
UMaine hosts UMass Lowell for three games April 13-14 and then entertains the University of Massachusetts for four non-conference games.
“It’s time to get going. If we don’t get it going at home, it’s going to be a very short season for us,” Derba said.
He and his players are confident they can snap out of what has been a season-long slump.
“I certainly haven’t lost hope,” Derba said. “We have the majority of our conference season left. We have 18 games left. We have some time but that time is up when Saturday comes.”
Senior third baseman Danny Casals said the Black Bears need to re-evaluate their approach to hitting.
“We’ve got to make some adjustments as a team and do a couple of things different,” Casals said.
“We’ve got to do a better job getting on base and putting some hits together,” said Casals, a first-team All-AE choice last season who is hitting .230, 74 points lower than a year ago.
He enters the UMBC series with a five-game hitting streak (6-for-19, .316), including three home runs.
Casals admitted that facing nationally-ranked teams like No. 6 Florida State and No. 7 Mississippi State was a stern test.
“You never want to make excuses but it was definitely a hard challenge at the beginning of the season. But it will prepare us for our conference schedule,” Casals said.
Junior right fielder Hernen Sardinas, a 2018 all-league second-team choice, is confident UMaine is poised to turn things around with the bats.
“We needed to do a better job with our situational hitting. We’re working on it,” he said.
Sardinas has had a recent resurgence, hitting .421 over his last five games to raise his average to .270. He batted .308 a year ago.
Sardinas and junior catcher Cody Pasic (.256) are the only regulars hitting over. 246, senior designated hitter Colin Ridley’s .246 average is 13 points higher than a year ago.