How many wins do you folks think Maine can win this year?

Is 3rd in the America East a reasonable ranking in anyone's opininon

just trying to spark some dialogue...

thanks



Feb. 13, 2008


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The University of Maine baseball team was selected to finish tied for third in the 2008 America East Preseason Coaches' Poll announced on Wednesday, Feb. 13. Stony Brook, who received four first-place votes and 32 total points, was selected to win the 2008 America East Baseball Championship, according to a vote by the league's head coaches.

After Stony Brook, Binghamton was selected to finish second as it received a pair of first-place votes and 28 points overall. Albany, who received one first-place vote and 24 points overall, was tied for third place with the Black Bears. Vermont was selected fifth as it received 21 points followed by Hartford who was sixth with 10 points. UMBC rounded out the poll as they it was seventh with eight points.

Maine returns seven starters for the 2008 season and has 16 newcomers on the roster. Highlighting the returnees is senior Curt Smith (Willemstad, Curacao) who is one of the top players in Maine history. Smith, who was named to the America East Second Team a year ago, finished second on the team with a .351 batting average. He had a team-high 46 runs scored and was also tops on the team in RBI with 48. Smith holds the school record with 16 career triples.

Also returning is center fielder Billy Cather (Worcester, Mass.) who hit .351 a year ago with 35 runs scored and 26 RBI. He enters the 2008 season with a 16-game hitting streak. Kevin McAvoy (Brewer, Maine), who was named the 2006 America East Rookie of the Year and a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American in 2006, is expected to play right field for the Black Bears this season. Also returning is 2007 America East Rookie of the Year Myckie Lugbauer (Mahopac, N.Y.). Lugbauer hit .301 in 2007 with 20 runs scored and 27 RBI. He is expected to see time both behind the plate and at first base this season. Danny Menendez (Miami, Fla.) and Brian Hackett (Bangor, Maine) return in the infield for the Black Bears. Senior Mark Ostrander (Hopkinton, Mass.) will provide leadership in the outfield.





On the mound, Maine returns Alejandro Balsinde (Miami, Fla.) who earned a spot in the starting rotation in 2007 after starting the year as Maine's closer. He finished 2007 with a 3-5 record with a 4.40 ERA. His 71.2 innings pitched a year ago is tops among returners as are his 33 strikeouts. Ryan Forrest (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) was 3-2 a year ago and was second on the team with 19 appearances.

Maine welcomes 16 newcomers including several who are expected to have an immediate impact. Pitchers Jon Balentina (Willemstad, Curacao), Kyle Benoit (Brampton, Ontario), Joe Miller (Valley Stream, N.Y.) and Kevin Scanlan (Sudbury, Mass.) could all figure into the starting rotation for the Black Bears. Joe Mercurio (Brewster, N.Y.) is expected to see considerable time behind the plate, while Tony Patane (New Milford, Conn.) is expected to start at shortstop.

The Black Bears kick off the 2008 season on Friday, Feb. 22 when they travel to Dover, Del. for a four-game series with Delaware State.


-U-M-

Given Maine's inexperience in the pitching dept. I'd say that 3rd place is a reasonable finish in America East. Hopefully, they can win the league.....it will all depend on how quickly their young pitchers can develop.

And yes, with Trimper at the helm......I do think that Maine's program is on the rise.

curacao ,unlikely place to recruit? to go to maine bbbrrrr. and imagine going to maine from miami. shows some aggressive recruiting. i hope they do well. but not in hockey. lol

They pickup a few guys who played here for Ontario Blue Jays and Team Ontario Inc. They obviously have a connection to those teams.
McGraw just graduated from Maine and he was a pretty decent ball player.

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They pickup a few guys who played here for Ontario Blue Jays and Team Ontario Inc. They obviously have a connection to those teams.

I'll take a guess the connection may be Kenny Joyce, NH Fisherkings (Jays AA) manager. He's also involved with Baseball Ontario. He's from Portland, Maine. His brother is part of the state of Maine baseball community.

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curacao ,unlikely place to recruit?

For whatever reason there are families in Portland, Maine from Curacao.

We have a few of them play with us on our travel team---one of whom is now a senior pitcher at Temple and has been drafted coming out of JUCO---

There are families in Maine that are "foster" parents for these kids

Neither OBJ or Team O inc are associated with Ontario BB. 5-6 years ago T O Inc was the provincial team but they broke away from OBA. They are now like OBJ a private elite BB team. Probably made contact at the PG events, Area Codes and other high level events, McGraw played with TO Inc after they broke away from the OBA. I have talked with his Mother who is one smart BB lady.

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Originally posted by BobbleheadDoll:
Neither OBJ or Team O inc are associated with Ontario BB. 5-6 years ago T O Inc was the provincial team but they broke away from OBA. They are now like OBJ a private elite BB team. Probably made contact at the PG events, Area Codes and other high level events, McGraw played with TO Inc after they broke away from the OBA. I have talked with his Mother who is one smart BB lady.

Rather than being so pointed about Baseball Ontario, I'm sure the potential contact I mentioned knows who the talent is in Ontario and passes information on to his New England contacts, and he's from Maine. And the kids go to showcases too.

On face value you would think a kid from Canada would be suitable for the UMO weather. But, it's a lot milder in the Toronto area than is it in Bangor/Orono.

The players from Curacoa may be because of the fact that the Senior Little League WS was played in Bangor a few years back, it might still be. I think Curacoa even won it in '03 or there abouts.

jim

i think they host it every year. but still a world away from curacao.

rjm
thats the fisher cats. we only have one afiliated team so we like to keep the name staight. lol. ken joyce went to usm. that is a quality d3 program but mostly local ne kids. some very good players come out of the portland area. must be that poland spring water.

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it's a lot milder in the Toronto area than is it in Bangor/Orono.

You got that right, I have been in Maine in the winter and I still remember the snow piled 8ft high.

The best Elite team I saw over the years came from Maine. That was about 4 years ago. I remember they were sponsored by a seafood company. They had some amazing players who were very big and strong. Several were draft picks.

that was nova seafood, i think that year they won the legion ws.

Thats the team. They were very impressive.

You've got to be kidding about Toronto vs. Bangor weather? Do any of you SERIOUSLY think that there is a noticeable difference....especially when it comes to playing baseball???

Here is the 5 day forecast for both cities:

Bangor:

Monday - 36/19
Tuesday - 39/21
Wednesday - 34/31
Thursday - 19/3
Friday - 20/17

Toronto:

Monday - 35/29
Tuesday - 32/15
Wednesday - 16/5
Thursday - 21/16
Friday - 30/26

Yup.....BIG difference between those 2 locales......

The Nova Seafood team won the Legion World Series. When I reference a couple of SEC kids in my posts from Maine they came from this team. I played for the same team with their dads years ago. Therefore, I have to agree about the talent coming out of Portland. One of the pitchers from the team is pitching at Maine. A couple of other pitchers went to schools in the Colonial Conference. That makes five D1 players from the team. Several others went on to play at Southern Maine, an excellent D3 program coached by a dad of one of the SEC players.

Deering High School, which is the core of the team, pounded the **** out of Mark Rogers (5th pick in the draft/Brewers/97 mph fastball) in the state championship. They were also a USA Today Top 25 that season.

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You've got to be kidding about Toronto vs. Bangor weather?

I've spent time in both places in the winter. Those Toronto numbers are below normal. It's a lot colder in Bangor.

What amazed me when I was in Toronto was how the "lake effect" could have it snowing three inches on one side of Lake Ontario and three feet on the other (Buffalo).

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Several were draft picks.

BA had them rated high but they weren't drafted. They weren't signable. They were all intent on going to college.

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ken joyce went to usm

Ken was the bat boy for my LL team.

Ken's rise into the baseball world is an interesting one. It started by volunteering to be a bullpen catcher for the Seadogs (Marlins AA at the time). His baseball career grew from there.

quote:

You've got to be kidding about Toronto vs. Bangor weather?
I've spent time in both places in the winter. Those Toronto numbers are below normal. It's a lot colder in Bangor.

What amazed me when I was in Toronto was how the "lake effect" could have it snowing three inches on one side of Lake Ontario and three feet on the other (Buffalo).

This is one of the worst winters I have experienced in the area. I live a couple hundred yards from Lake Ontario. The lake effect can be very funny depending on wind. It can be balmy were I loive and 12 ,ile south in Buffalo they can have a blizzard.
Last year we had no snow until March and it was warm and one of the best winters ever.

That Nova team was a very strong team. They also were state champs in HS from one parent told me. Defintely one of the strongest teams I have seen.