The University of Maine’s baseball team has moved to the top of the America East standings.
The Black Bears took the final two games of their three-game home series against the University of Maryland Baltimore County over the weekend, including a 23-1 mercy-rule seven-inning contest, which represented the most runs scored in a game by the team since 2018.
It is the most runs the team has scored in an America East game since April 6, 2012 when the Black Bears beat University of Maryland Baltimore County 32-14.
UMaine beat the Retrievers 9-1 on Saturday after dropping a 16-12 slugfest on Friday.
The Black Bears have now won seven of their last eight conference games to improve their America East record to 10-5 and their overall mark to 16-21.
Bryant and the New Jersey Institute of Technology are tied for second at 7-5 followed by Binghamton (8-7), UMBC (7-8), UMass Lowell (6-9) and Albany (3-9).
Over UMaine’s last six games, including a 17-1 non-conference win over Division III UMaine Farmington and 12-1 and 11-3 conference victories over Albany, the team is averaging 14 runs and 15.2 hits per game and is hitting .427 overall.
“We swung the bats well as a whole over the entire weekend,” said UMaine head coach Nick Derba. “But the thing I was most excited about was the way [Caleb] Leys and [Gianni Gambardella] threw. They threw the ball exceptionally well.”
Leys tossed seven innings of five-hit, one-run ball with nine strikeouts and three walks in the 9-1 win, and Gambardella allowed only one hit and one run over five innings of Sunday’s 23-1 victory with four strikeouts and three walks.
It was Gambardella’s second straight one-hit outing, as he went six innings in the 12-1 win on April 13 over Albany and struck out four without walking anyone.
Colin Fitzgerald had a rough outing in Friday’s 16-12 loss and wound up with a no-decision. He allowed 10 hits and seven runs in six innings but did strike out 10. He walked two.
“He didn’t throw the ball that well, but the pitching staff bounced back with two really quality starts,” said Derba.
Redshirt junior lefty Leys leads the league in earned-run average (2.54), strikeouts (60) and opposing batting average against him (.234); Gambardella is fifth in ERA (4.66) and Fitzgerald is sixth (4.77). Gambardella is fourth in opposing batting average (.252) and Fitzgerald is tops in innings pitched (66) and tied for the lead in wins (5) and is second in strikeouts (57).
Offensively, three transfer newcomers — first baseman Drew Reynolds (Lassen Community College, California), center fielder Brody Rasmussen (Lassen) and shortstop Chris Bear (Northern Essex Community College, Massachusetts) — went a combined 13-for-13 in Sunday’s 23-1 win with 10 runs batted in, six by Reynolds. Reynolds had a triple and two doubles and Rasmussen had a double.
Two other transfers, right fielder Payton Whitehead from NCAA Division III Westminster College in Missouri and designated hitter Damon Gaither from Division I Coppin State in Maryland, went 2-for-5 and 2-for-4, respectively.
Derba pointed out that in the case of Reynolds, Rasmussen, Bear and Whitehead, they have transferred in from junior college or Division III baseball programs so “it takes time for them to adjust to Division I pitching.
“Maybe it’s the beginning of their ability to hit the ground running and get through the rest of the season on a hot streak,” said Derba.
Over the past six games, Rasmussen is hitting .500 with two homers and eight runs-batted in, Reynolds is hitting .423 with six doubles, a triple and 12 RBIs; Whitehead is .391 with two homers and six RBIs and Bear is at .364 with two RBIs.
Whitehead has a current nine-game hitting streak (13-for-34, .324).
Senior second baseman Myles Sargent has hit .560 over his last six games with two homers, four doubles and 17 RBIs, and junior catcher Dean O’Neill is at .478 with a double and 10 RBIs.
Gaither has also knocked in 10 runs to go with two homers and a .471 average in the six contests.
Freshmen Quinn Murphy (6-for-11, 4 RBIs), Aidan Bard (6-13, 5 RBIs) and Evan Menzel (7-for-19) have also contributed.
Derba said there is still a “long way to go,” with a three-game series left in conference play against the team’s three closest pursuers.
“We’ve put ourselves in position to be masters of our own fate. If we win all three series, we should finish off the year with our third regular season championship in four years,” said Derba. “We want to keep getting better.”
UMaine will host New Jersey Institute of Technology for three games this weekend, travel to Bryant for a three-game set and then close the league schedule at home with a series against Binghamton.