After playing into the semifinal round of the America East Championship, Maine head coach Nick Derba feels that his ballclub made significant strides throughout the 2021 season.
The Black Bears expect to possess another deep roster that will allow them to compete for their 12th consecutive postseason trip and go even further. In 2021, Maine earned 17 of its 22 wins away from home before losing to the conference’s regular-season champion Stony Brook and eventual NCAA tournament representative NJIT.
“Two of the league’s best arms, Alex McKenney (Hampden, Maine) and Nick Sinacola (North Attleboro, Mass.), have gone on to play pro ball now, but we return the majority of our lineup, we’re going to be deep on the mound, and I think we did pretty well in the Transfer Portal, which was a big key for us to fill some gaps,” Derba said. “I think we did underperform overall (last year), but we made some big strides and we’re definitely going to have a lot of depth and veteran guys.”
MAINE BLACK BEARS
