Fresh off moving into sole possession of second place in the America East, the UMBC Baseball team (22-20, 11-7 AE) travels to first place Maine (23-15, 13-2 AE) for a three game series.

Game one is on Friday at 4 pm., followed by a 1 p.m. contest on Saturday. The series closes at noon on Sunday.

Retriever Notes:

• The team is looking to continue their hot streak winning five out of their last six conference games
• Ian Diaz (Philadelphia, Pa.) drove home two with a double in their midweek game against GW and he also is third in the America East with 45 runs scored
• Junior pitcher Luke Johnson (Lewes, Del.) leads the America East in pitching with a 2.69 ERA and an outstanding 6-1 record
• Freshman Leewood Molessa (Pullman, W.V.a) is second in the conference with 55 RBI and 14 homers.

Scouting Maine:

• The Black Bears (23-15, 13-2 AE) are looking to clinch the number one seed for the America East Championships this weekend
• Maine lead the conference with a .301 batting average and 62 home runs
• Sophomore first baseman Jeremiah Jenkins was named America East player of the week for the third time this year after he he hit three home runs, had 11 RBI, scored seven runs, and had three doubles last week.
• Jenkins leads the America East and is in the top-20 in the NCAA in total home runs (T-17th), home runs per game (13th), total RBI (T-7th) and RBI per game (2nd). He also has the sixth-best slugging percentage at .858 in the NCAA. 
• Redshirt Junior Jake Rainess leads the conference with runs scored at 62 and classmate Quinn McDaniel is second with 60. 

Earlier This Season:

• Maine swept a three game series in Baltimore earlier this year, but two of the games were one-run decisions.
• Game one was a pitching battle with Luke Johnson pitched 8 scoreless innings while allowing only three base hits, but Colin Fitzgerald also only allowed one base hit in seven innings 
• Quinn McDaniel's two-run homer in the ninth was enough despite Molessa's ninth inning solo blast in a  2-1 victory
• Maine ran away with game 2 winning 15-7 in seven innings, before taking an 8-1 lead in the final game and holding off a furious UMBC rally in an 8-7 win