Lehigh University Athletics
Mountain Hawks head up north to face Maine
3/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Coming off two straight shutout wins the Lehigh baseball team will head north to Orono, Maine this weekend for back-to-back doubleheaders with the Maine Black Bears. In his first extended action of the season, senior co-captain Greg Angelo helped Lehigh blank Binghamton 5-0 in the final game of the series on March 21. Junior Mike Lebo picked up right where Angelo left off, as he helped the Brown and White defeat NJIT 7-0 on Wednesday.
“The past two outings by Angelo and Lebo have been confidence builders for the entire pitching staff,” head coach Sean Leary said. “It helps raise the bar for all of the pitchers.”
Lehigh (5-10) couldn’t get its bats going against NJIT, but it didn’t matter as Lebo pitched seven scoreless innings to pick up his first win since the 2008 season. Backed by solid defense, Lebo gave up only five hits and struck out six batters.
The Mountain Hawks have two pitchers with ERAs under three on the season: Angelo (1.50) and senior Ken Longernecker (2.76). Junior Andrew Russell continues to pace Lehigh’s offense with a team leading 14 RBIs and a .509 slugging percentage.
Maine (7-12) comes into the weekend looking to snap a six-game losing streak after dropping all four games in its series against Oregon State on March 19-21. Prior to their losing streak, the Black Bears had won five straight, which included wins over Penn, Rhode Island and Georgetown. Senior Justin Latta has been Maine’s workhorse on the mound this season as he has a 3-0 record in 11 appearances. Seven different Black Bears have knocked in at least 10 runs this season with sophomore Taylor Lewis leading all players with 20.
“Maine has an outstanding pitching staff with some strong arms,” Leary said. “They were selected as preseason favorites in the America East this year and are going to provide a tough challenge. We scheduled opponents like this to help us get ready for Patriot League play.”
Lehigh and Maine have faced each other only one other time back in 2005 with the Black Bears coming out on top 6-3.
The Mountain Hawks will hit the field for the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
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