The University of Maine baseball team will travel to New Jersey Institute of Technology for a three-game series beginning Friday, April 17.
This matchup is significant as the Black Bears have improved their performance in recent weeks, moving up to third place in the America East Conference standings and increasing their total wins for the season. The team has won at least two games in each of the past three weekend series.
The scheduled starters for Maine are Jason Krieger on Friday, Gianni Gambardella on Saturday, and Vaun Larisa on Sunday. Krieger currently has a record of 1-4 with a 5.26 earned run average (ERA) and leads the conference with 51.1 innings pitched. Gambardella holds a record of 4-3 with a 5.36 ERA, while Larisa stands at 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA.
Hunter St. Denis recently received his second America East Rookie of the Week honor after hitting .500 with six hits and seven runs batted in during last weekend’s games against Northeastern and Merrimack. Other Maine players recognized this season include Troy Carpenter, Jack Donlin, Rex Hauser, and Nic Pepe.
Offensively, Troy Carpenter leads the conference with both runs batted in (32) and home runs (nine), while Juju Stevens is tied for home runs, ranks third in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) at 1.083, and fifth in batting average at .345.
Friday’s game marks the thirty-second meeting between Maine and NJIT; Maine holds an all-time lead of twenty-two wins to nine over NJIT.
