The Maine Black Bears baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of the University of Maine, located in Orono, Maine. It is the university's oldest athletic program, having begun play in 1881. It has been a member of the NCAADivision IAmerica East Conference since its founding (as the North Atlantic Conference) at the start of the 1990 season. Its home venue is Mahaney Diamond, located on the university's campus. Steve Trimper has been the program's head coach since the start of the 2006 season. As of the end of the 2013 season, the program has appeared in 16 NCAA Tournaments and seven College World Series. In conference postseason play, it has won eight ECAC Tournaments and five America East Tournaments. In conference regular season play, it has won five America East titles (three of those when the league was known as the North Atlantic Conference). 19 former Black Bears have appeared in Major League Baseball.
The University of Maine opened in fall 1868 as the Maine College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.[1] The baseball program, founded in 1881, was the school's first intercollegiate athletic program.[2] It went 3-3 in its first season. The program continued to play a handful of games each season during the 1880s; during this time, Irv Ray, Maine's first alumnus to play in Major League Baseball, played for the program.[3] It played its first 10-game schedule in 1886 and won 10 games for the first time in 1888. The university did not sponsor a baseball team in 1892, but the team resumed in 1893.[4]
From the program's inception through the 1893 season, student coaches coached the team. For the 1894 season, the school hired Harry Miller as its first faculty head coach. In two seasons under Miller (1894 and 1895), the team went 5-7 and 8-4, respectively. Jack Abbott, the program's second head coach, led the team to a 5-4 record in 1896. Under W. W. Bustard, Maine had consecutive 9-4 seasons in 1897 and 1898.[4] The university changed its name from the Maine College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts to its current name following the 1897 season.[1]
The longest-tenured head coach of the period was former Philadelphia Athletics player Monte Cross, who coached the team for six seasons (1916–1921) and had an overall record of 33-33-3.[4] An April 1916 Lewiston Daily Sun article said of Cross, "His easy-going, but nevertheless strict instructions and discipline, together with the knowledge of the inside features of the National game, and the manner in which he teaches them, make an everlasting impression on the students, players, and managers."[5] Following the 1919 season, Cross became the first Maine baseball coach to receive the "M" award from the university's president.[6]
After Joseph Murphy coached the program for its first two seasons of New England Conference play (1924–1925), a total of two coaches led the team for the remainder of its time in the conference. Fred Brice was the program's head coach for 10 seasons (1926–1935), and William Kenyon held the position for 13 seasons (1936–1943, 1945–1949), the first 11 of which came in the New England Conference. Under Brice, Maine had a 67-60 record; its best single-season record during his tenure was 9-5 in 1932.[4] For the previous season, 1931, the baseball team had moved to a location behind Memorial Gym after previously playing at Alumni Field.[10] Under Kenyon in the New England Conference, Maine went 61-91-1. It went 11-7 in 1938 to tie the program record for wins and won Maine State Series championships in 1937 and 1942.[4][11]
The program played at several locations on Maine's campus in its early seasons. A 1931 Lewiston Daily Sun article reads, "The baseball diamond will be changed from Alumni field this year to a section directly behind Memorial gym. The first game on the new diamond will be with Colby on May 2."[10]
The program currently plays at Mahaney Diamond, which opened in the early 1980s and is located on the northern end of the university's campus. It has a capacity of 4,400 spectators and is named for Maine alumnus and donor Larry Mahaney, who graduated from the university in 1951. The field has a FieldTurf surface, and the facility has been renovated many times since the mid 1980s.[4]
Since Harry Miller became the program's first record head coach for the 1894 season, Maine has had 24 head coaches.[4]John Winkin, who was Maine's head coach from 1975–1996, is both the program's longest tenured and winningest head coach. He coached for 22 seasons and won 642 games.[13]
Maine's coaching staff for the 2013 season consisted of head coach Steve Trimper, assistant coach Jason Spaulding, assistant coach Billy Cather, and volunteer assistant coach Ryan Forrest.
Spaulding, Maine's pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, played college baseball at Vermont while Trimper was an assistant there. He became a member of Maine's coaching staff for the start of the 2011 season and previously was an assistant at Manhattan.[16][17][18] Cather played at Maine from 2005–2008 and later played independent professional baseball. He became an assistant prior to the start of the 2010 season.[19][20] Forrest played at Maine from 2007–2009 and has been a volunteer assistant since the start of the 2012 season.[21]
The program's first season came in 1881. Since then, the school has sponsored a team in each season except 1892 and 1944. Below is a table of the program's yearly records since its inception.[4][22][23][24][25]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion
Two Black Bears were selected in the 2012 Major League Baseball Draft: P Jeff Gibbs by the Arizona Diamondbacks (9th round) and P Steve Perakslis by the Chicago Cubs (21st round). Gibbs's 9th-round selection was the program's highest since Mike Collar was chosen in the 8th round in 2003.[31] Both Gibbs and Perakslis signed professional contracts.[34][35]
^"Sports Survey". The Lewiston Daily Sun. Lewiston, Maine, USA. 24 December 1946. p. 17. Archived from the original on 24 December 1946. Retrieved 23 December 2012. The new conference is an outgrowth of the old New England College Conference on Collegiate Athletics founded in 1923, but has the University of Vermont and been extended by the inclusion of broadened by provisions for championship selection.
