Analysis: UMaine baseball didn’t deserve to make the tournament

Following Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Albany which ended the University of Maine baseball team’s America East playoff aspirations, UMaine head coach Nick Derba was blunt.

“We finished exactly where we should have,” he said. “We shouldn’t have made the playoffs.”

He was spot on. The Black Bears didn’t deserve to be in the tournament.

Even though the injury-riddled team had lost six of their last seven conference games, they were still in position to make the tournament if they took two of three games from Albany at Mahaney Diamond. Albany also needed two wins to get in.

Albany entered the series with a 1-7 road conference record and, in the seven losses, the Great Danes were outscored 66-23. They were 4-23-1 overall on the road. But they emerged with 6-3 and 4-3 wins on Thursday and Saturday surrounding a 7-5 loss on Friday.

The Black Bears, who won their first America East title since 2011 a year ago, finished with an 8-15 conference record. They went 12-37 overall.

A lot went wrong for UMaine, which wasn’t able to overcome an extensive list of injuries that included two All-America East first team starting pitchers (Colin Fitzgerald and Gianni Gambardella); an All-Rookie team pitcher (Caleb Leys) and a second baseman (Myles Sargent) who was hitting .474 through his first 11 conference games.

Fitzgerald and Leys had offseason surgery so neither one threw a pitch this season. Gambardella was shelved by elbow tendonitis from April 7 to May 12. And he finished the season with a 2-0 record and 1.96 earned-run average in conference play.

In addition, senior righthander Noah Lewis, who played an important role in the team’s America East championship a year ago, had a nightmarish season with an 0-9 record and a 16.70 earned-run average. He was an All-America East second team selection in 2023.

Everyday players left fielder Nick White, designated hitter Connor Goodman and catcher Dean O’Neill all missed at least 10 games each due to injury. Sargent missed the last 19 games.

The inexperienced pitching staff’s biggest problem was it couldn’t throw strikes. Only four teams among Division I’s 295 programs issued more walks per nine innings than the Black Bears, and only 11 teams had a worse earned-run average than UMaine’s 8.88.

“We didn’t have enough pitching,” Derba said. “That was kind of a shock to us.”

With the pitching issues, it was incumbent upon the hitters to help bail them out by outscoring teams. They didn’t do so, especially when it mattered the most.

The Black Bears scored three runs or less in five of their last nine conference games and two of those came in those losses to an Albany team that finished the season with the worst earned-run average in conference play.

UMaine was no-hit for 6 1/3 innings by Dylan Banner in Thursday’s loss and went 0-for-10 with men on base and hit into three double plays in Saturday’s decisive loss to Cregg Scherrer, who tossed a complete-game after throwing just 27 2/3 innings all season long.

The Black Bears scored the fewest runs (121) and had the worst on-base percentage (.362) in conference play among the seven teams. They weren’t good defensively, either, committing 63 errors including 15 in their last 10 overall games. They gave up 51 unearned runs.

“We have to be deeper next season, all-around,” Derba said. “That’s our No. 1 focus.”

The good news for next year is that Gambardella, who returned and made two relief appearances at the end of the season, and Fitzgerald (hip surgery) should be one of the best one-two duos in the conference. Leys (Tommy John surgery) could be a solid No. 3 depending upon his recovery.

The Black Bears will also have some quality depth if freshman Jason Krieger and sophomore Luc Lavigueur continue to progress. Krieger had the team’s lowest ERA (5.26) overall and allowed one earned run or less in four of his last five outings, including just one over seven innings in Saturday’s finale.

Lavigueur posted a 2.21 ERA in his last two appearances covering 12 2/3 innings. He wound up 4-1 with a 5.23 ERA in conference games.

Freshman Gabe Gifford of Old Town struck out 48 in just 34 innings and had eight strikeouts or more in three conference games, totalling 26 strikeouts over just 11 2/3 innings in those three contests. But in those 34 innings, he walked 52 and hit nine hitters. If he can throw strikes, he could prove to be a valuable commodity.

Offensively, the big loss will be 2023 third team All-American and America East Player of the Year Jeremiah Jenkins, who hit 22 homers and became the first hitter in league history to have back-to-back 20-homer seasons. He also hit .341 and drove in 50 runs.

The junior is expected to be drafted high and sign a contract, but there is a remote chance he could return if he isn’t picked until later in the draft. Infielder Jake Marquez, who hit .280 with seven home runs and 34 RBIs, will depart.

Sargent (.324-1 homer-14 RBIs), right fielder Zach Martin (.286-3-21) and O’Neill (.272-7-22) will be expected to be the offensive catalysts next season. UMaine is appealing to the NCAA to get an extra year for White (.250-7-36).

Derba said he isn’t concerned about his offense next season because he and his staff have a lot of good replacements coming from the transfer portal and the junior college pool. He praised his team for not giving up during a difficult season.

“We’re in a good place for next year,” he said.