ORONO, Maine – Highlighted by 14 games against NCAA Tournament foes, the University of Maine baseball team released its 2019 schedule on Tuesday. The Black Bears are slated to play 49 games in 2019, including non-conference matchups against Florida State, Mississippi State, Samford and Troy, who all qualified for the NCAA Tournament a season ago.
“We are excited to take on a challenging non-conference schedule to get us ready for the rigors of the America East,” said third-year head coach Nick Derba. “Our goal is to win an America East Championship and playing at this high level of competition puts us in a position to compete at our highest level during conference season.”
The Black Bears begin the 2019 campaign on Feb. 15-17 with a four-game series against Florida State in Tallahassee. Coached by Mike Martin, the winningest coach in Division I college baseball history, Martin will have to go through the Black Bears to begin his 40th and final season at the helm of the Seminoles. Last season, Florida State went 43-19, winning the ACC Championship.
Maine will then head north to play Maryland in a three-game set with the Terrapins from Feb. 22-Feb. 24. The Black Bears are 1-1 all-time against Maryland, last meeting in 1965. Next up for the Black Bears is a three-game series with Liberty University to open March (March 1-3) in Lynchburg, Virginia.
The Black Bears meet Mississippi State next for a three-game set (March 8-10). The Bulldogs went 39-29 a season ago, advancing to the College World Series, before bowing out to eventual national champions Oregon State.
Maine will take on three teams in Alabama, starting with defending SoCon Champions Samford (March 15-17) for three games. The Black Bears will then take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in a single-gameo on March 19 in Tuscaloosa, before ending the Yellowhammer State tour with a game against Troy on March 20. The Trojans went 42-21 a season ago, falling to Duke twice in the Athens regional to end its season.
Three days later, Maine opens up America East play with a three game series at Binghamton from March 23-24. Stony Brook is next on the docket, as the Black Bears will take on the Seawolves in three games on Long Island, taking place March 30-31.
Mahaney Diamond will see its first game action of the season in a three-game home series against UMBC (April 6-7) and UMass Lowell (April 13-14). The Black Bears will also host non-conference foe UMass for a four-game set from April 19 to April 21. Maine defeated the Minutemen 24-5 in a mid-week game last season in Amherst.
The Black Bears return to America East play with a three-game series against Albany from April 27-28. Maine will then head out of conference with single games against both Brown (April 30) and Dartmouth (May 1).
Maine returns home for a three-game series against Stony Brook (May 4-5), before heading to the 2018 America East Tournament Champion Hartford for three games from May 11-12. One final non-conference contest against Boston College is left on the docket on May 14 in Brighton, Massachusetts.
The Black Bears close the regular season against Binghamton on the weekend of May 17-18, with three games.
The postseason is next for Maine, as the annual America East Championships will be held May 22-25, hosted by Binghamton in Vestal, N.Y.
