When I came to the first meeting for new writers, I was assigned the club football beat in its inaugural season, and they advanced all the way to the championship game. Since then, I have covered the varsity football and baseball teams and have written numerous other stories, in addition to sports editing duties I took on in fall 2008.

The past two years as sports editor have been memorable. Here are some of the top storylines at UMaine during that time:

Football advances to FCS playoffs in 2008 – Coming off a disappointing 4-7 campaign in 2007, expectations weren’t really high for coach Jack Cosgrove’s squad in 2008, although they retained the bulk of their team. There were questions at the quarterback position and early in the season, star tailback Jhamal Fluellen went down to an injury.

After faltering to a 2-3 start, there was no room for error for the Black Bears headed into an early October matchup at Delaware. Starting quarterback Adam Farkes went down with a season-ending injury in that game, and Mike Brusko stepped in to lead the Black Bears to six straight wins.

UMaine was anchored by a running attack led by redshirt freshman Jared Turcotte and a defense consisting of menacing pass rusher Jovan Belcher, who is now a linebacker for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

UMaine fell to the University of New Hampshire in a snowy game, and it seemed as though the season was over following the loss. The selection committee gave UMaine an at-large bid into the 16-team field for the playoffs and although the Black Bears dropped a 40-15 decision at Northern Iowa, it was their first appearance in the playoffs since 2002.

Volleyball, Men’s soccer cut in 2009 – As schools around the nation began cutting athletic programs due to the budget constraints affecting all colleges, it finally hit the UMaine athletic department last April.

Athletic director Blake James was faced with the tough decision of cutting the athletic budget and was forced to eliminate two programs, bringing the total number of varsity sports down to 15.

Although the volleyball and men’s soccer team had their fair share of struggles, it’s always difficult to see programs eliminated, especially when you see those student-athletes putting in all that time and dedication and seeing it evaporate.

You can’t fault the athletic department because times like these happen, and all schools were facing, and still are facing, this crisis.

Gustav Nyquist named 2009-10 First Team All-American – Swedish forward Gustav Nyquist stepped foot on campus in fall 2008 and immediately made his presence felt on the ice, leading the Black Bears in points during his freshman season. Although the Black Bears struggled for the second straight year, Nyquist and his young teammates brought optimism to a sagging fanbase heading into the 2009-10 season.

Nyquist and the Black Bears advanced all the way to the Hockey East Championship Game against eventual national champion Boston College and fell in overtime 7-6.

The sophomore Nyquist was named a Hobey Baker Award finalist for his exceptional season. He led the nation in points with 61 and assists with 42. The Detroit Red Wings draft choice was the only unanimous selection to the 2010 Hockey East First Team and was the runner-up for Player of the Year.

Nyquist is expected to return for his junior season.

Riley Masters breaks a four-minute mile – A lot of people do not follow track because it’s not a mainstream sport. UMaine should probably start following the sport with the emergence of Riley Masters.

On Feb. 13, the sophomore standout became the first Black Bear to break the four-minute mile barrier, breaking the school record with a time of 3:59.97.

He went on to place fifth at the NCAA Championships in the mile and was named an All-American for his efforts. Masters has two years remaining as a Black Bear and the sky is the limit for the Bangor native, as he is only poised to get better.

While those are the top storylines for the past two years in UMaine athletics, Black Bear fans will certainly have something to cheer about in the upcoming season. The football and men’s hockey teams return most of their key players to teams that showed promise last season. The men’s basketball team only lost one starter off a squad that won 19 games. The baseball and softball teams will have to deal with a few losses, but are currently in the midst of successful seasons at the top of America East.

I’ll be graduating in less than two weeks and hopefully moving on to greener pastures — although that will probably not happen.

It’s been a good ride at UMaine, though, and I will always be a Black Bear.

After leaving school early for the professional ranks after his junior season, the second round draft choice of the Detroit Red Wings spent a majority of his first four seasons in the AHL. This season, though, the former Black Bears star took over for Hall of Fame goalie Chris Osgood and has never relinquished his starting spot in net for the Red Wings.

On Tuesday night, Howard, who compiled 15 shutouts in his UMaine career, slammed the door on the Phoenix Coyotes, stopping all 29 shots in a 3-0 shutout. The win tied up the Red Wings/Coyotes first round series.

Howard was stellar in net this season for the Red Wings, who have been in the last two Stanley Cup Finals. For much of the season, Detroit was on the outside of the playoff picture due to numerous injuries to star players. In the second half of the season, though, the Red Wings got healthy and were the hottest team in the NHL, jumping up to the five seed in the Western Conference.

Howard has been deemed by many, including Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, as the team’s MVP. He has been a rock in net for Detroit, compiling a 37-15-10 record this season. His 37 wins rank eighth in the league. His save percentage (.924 – fourth) and goals against average (2.26 – fifth) rank among the top goaltenders in the league.

While the series is far from over and now turns into a best-of-three series heading back to Phoenix, Howard’s game four performance just shows what the former UMaine star has been doing all season.

Roethlisberger is one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league and has led the Pittsburgh Steelers to two Super Bowl titles in his young career. However, the former University of Miami (Ohio) star has put himself in bad situation after bad situation.

Recently, Roethlisberger has been under the legal eye because of an alleged sexual assault on March 3 at a central Georgia nightclub. A 20-year-old college student accused him of sexually assaulting her in the bathroom, while his bodyguards would not let her worried friends into the room.

No charges were filed due to lack of evidence, but the backlash and image were not only hurtful to Roethlisberger, but the Steelers organization and the NFL.

When Roger Goodell took over as the commissioner of the NFL before the 2006 season, he had a no-nonsense approach to disciplining players, and it’s no surprise to see he suspended Big Ben for at least a fourth of the regular season.

The question that remains is if the Steelers will trade their star quarterback and his hefty $102 million contract. They just traded troubled Pro Bowl wide receiver Santonio Holmes to the New York Jets after another run-in with the law and after learning he will be suspended for four games.

Pittsburgh would be smart to trade Roethlisberger if they can acquire a top-10 draft pick this season. The Steelers are a good situation for any quarterback to come into because they have a talented roster and a great coaching staff. Roethlisberger started as a rookie after Tommy Maddox went down and led the team to the AFC Championship Game.

If they can snag a top-10 pick, Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen will be around and could be thrown into the starting job from the beginning.

If the Steelers do hold onto Big Ben and wait out his suspension, they won’t have that difficult of an early season schedule. Dennis Dixon is a young quarterback and will most likely assume starting duties with Roethlisberger out. Although he doesn’t have the passing skills of Big Ben, he possesses good running and playmaking skills.

In week one, the Steelers have a big test at home against Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons were right outside of the playoffs last year, but were hurt by injuries to Ryan and star running back Michael Turner. Even if the Falcons are fully healthy, that’s a winnable game for Pittsburgh.

In weeks two and three, Pittsburgh is on the road at Tennessee and Tampa Bay. Tennessee is a tough team with Chris Johnson leading the way, but they don’t have a lot other than that. Tampa Bay is rebuilding and will not be good this year.

Week four is the big game when Baltimore visits Heinz Field and Dixon might have trouble with the Ravens defense, as he did last year in his only NFL start.

Roethlisberger might be back after four games, but in the event that his suspension is five or six, a home game with Cleveland is winnable, as is an Oct. 24 meeting at Miami.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a difficult dilemma with the draft beginning tonight, but they will probably hold onto their troubled signal-caller. It’s hard to be a Big Ben fan when he showed up to a press conference the day before his meeting with Goodell and had a slicked-back mullet — looking the part of someone who is up to no good.

Pittsburgh is a class organization, and at the end of the day, they will decide what’s best for the team.

The good thing for coach Jack Cosgrove and the Black Bears is they are currently in the middle of their spring practice schedule and don’t open up regular season play until Sept. 2 against the University of Albany.

“There are a lot of significant names that aren’t practicing this spring and if they’re practicing, they’re practicing with some restrictions on them,” said Cosgrove, who had 18 players undergo offseason surgery.

UMaine, coming off a 5-6 season and a second-place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association North Division, returns a cast of veteran players in 2010, including 19 starters.

Despite several key players being unable to suit up or to only participate in a limited capacity, Cosgrove is optimistic about the season.

“We’re excited to see them progressing and we’re happy to see on June 1 they’ll all be cleared to play as we head into our summer program and preseason,” the 18-year head coach said.

With some starters being held out, the coaching staff will get an up-close look at players trying to assume larger roles on the team.

“What it does is it provides opportunity for younger players, which is a great thing,” Cosgrove said.

Spring unity

Following a 27-24 loss to the University of New Hampshire on Nov. 21, which concluded the 2009 season, UMaine pushed to get back to its 2008 form where they advanced to the national playoffs.

Coming into last season, UMaine had high expectations following its first postseason trip since 2002. The Black Bears graduated a bulk of their defense from that playoff squad and injuries to returning standouts Jared Turcotte and Mark Masterson made it difficult from the beginning.

UMaine limped out of the gate as they squeaked past Division II St. Cloud State 34-27 in overtime in their season opener.

After their running game proved to be unsuccessful, Cosgrove made a change at quarterback to Warren Smith and the Black Bears changed to a pass-heavy attack.

Injuries and inexperience showed throughout the year, though, as UMaine finished below .500. With 42 lettermen returning and 29 players with starting experience, the spring season will hopefully allow the team to take positive steps toward the 2010 season.

“The biggest thing is the development of a personality as a football team,” said Cosgrove of spring practice. “There’s a lot of skill development and technique development that will take place. We have a group of seniors that left us and a group of seniors that are stepping in and we’re just trying to build together as a unit.”

“We have to get back to running the football and playing great defense,” he added. “We know we can throw the football. We know we’re going to have more experienced players coming back heading into preseason camp, but we better handle ourselves well and not pat ourselves on the back.”

The spring season also gives players who redshirted last season a chance to garner attention from the coaches.

“All of these first-year players who redshirted last year and were on scout team have a genuine opportunity to compete and get on the special teams unit or even a starting spot,” Cosgrove said.

Turcotte, Masterson making progress

One of the many reasons the expectations for the 2009 season were so high was the return of All-American tailback Jared Turcotte. During his redshirt freshman campaign in 2008 he led the team in rushing with 640 yards and seven touchdowns. He also had a team-high 25 receptions for 286 yards and a touchdown.

The Lewiston native missed all of last season due to an undisclosed injury and has undergone two lower-abdominal surgeries.

“People are asking me about Jared’s situation and he doesn’t have that level of frustration about him,” Cosgrove said. “This is something that has been wearing him down because it’s the great unknown and sometimes his body has indicated that, but it’s good to see his spirits back up.”

Despite not being able to participate in spring practice, Turcotte is making positive steps toward returning to his bruising form from 2008.

Another missing component from 2009 was senior linebacker Mark Masterson, who was expected to lead a defensive corps that lost six starters from 2008.

Masterson was the fifth-leading tackler in 2008 for UMaine, but went down with a right foot injury last fall and missed the final nine games of the season.

The 6-foot-3-inch, 223-pounder who occupies the “rover” linebacking spot was granted a medical redshirt and is back with the Black Bears for his fifth season.

“Mark Masterson was one of our expected big-play guys last year, but missed the whole season,” Cosgrove said. “He’s still not cleared to be turned loose but he’s practicing in some capacities now.”

Masterson also underwent surgery for a torn labrum in the offseason.

Quarterback battle

With rising juniors Warren Smith and Chris Treister returning in the fall, Cosgrove has two quarterbacks with starting experience.

Smith, a transfer from Iona College, took over the starting job early last season and made five starts. He threw for 1,695 yards and 12 touchdowns as the Black Bears transformed their offense into an aerial attack.

Smith broke his foot in a late-season game at James Madison though and had to undergo surgery to repair it. He is currently behind physically, but is expected to be 100 percent for preseason camp in August.

Treister stepped in for Smith and completed a school-record 40 passes for 468 yards and five touchdowns in his Nov. 14 debut against the University of Rhode Island. He followed that performance with a solid effort at UNH, where he threw for two more scores.

“It’s very much to our advantage to have two experienced quarterbacks,” Cosgrove said. “We’re going to end up with a guy who’s a proven player in the league. We’ll just let them compete as teammates and announce [the starter] when the time’s ready.”

CAA landscape changing

After the conclusion of last season, the CAA took a blow when two teams dropped their football programs due to budget constraints.

Northeastern University and Hofstra University, both teams in the CAA North Division, eliminated their teams, putting the conference in a difficult situation.

Without an even distribution of teams, the CAA ditched its division format and went to a single 10-team conference.

“It significantly alters the balance of power in the league,” Cosgrove said. “There are six teams in the south and four in the north and it really skews the traveling. Those are two bus trips for us that are no longer in place.”

Despite two teams dropping football, the CAA still has the last two national champions — Richmond and Villanova — in its conference.

“One thing it hasn’t changed is the ability of the conference,” Cosgrove said. “We’re in a challenging spot because we’re in the best division in the FCS so we have to be ready to compete.”

Notes: UMaine had its seventh spring practice on Saturday morning. They have seven practices remaining and the spring season culminates with the annual Jeff Cole Memorial Spring Scrimmage on May 1 at 10 a.m.

On Saturday and Sunday, both teams showed why they are two of the favorites in the conference, splitting a pair of games each day at Varsity Field in Vestal, N.Y.

Binghamton (12-17 overall, 4-3 America East) won Saturday’s first game 3-1 and rallied to win Sunday’s final game 13-11. UMaine (19-16, 4-3) took Saturday’s second game 7-5 and Sunday’s first contest 3-1.

UMaine resumes play at home on Tuesday against Bates College for a nonconference game at 5 p.m. They open up their home conference slate on Saturday against the University of Hartford at 1 p.m.

In Saturday’s first game, James Giuletti outdueled UMaine freshman Steve Perakslis as Binghamton picked up a 3-1 win.

Giuletti (4-2) went all seven innings for the Bearcats, allowing only one run on six hits. He struck out six Black Bears.

In the bottom of the third inning, Binghamton took a 1-0 lead when Jeff Abrams scored on a balk. The Black Bears tied it up in the next half of the inning when Tyler Patzalek singled, advanced to third on a Lewis double and scored on an Ian Leisenheimer groundout.

That’s all UMaine could muster against Giuletti. Binghamton took the lead for good in the sixth inning. Henry Dunn hit an RBI triple and scored when Dave Ciocchi hit a sacrifice fly.

Perakslis (2-4) went six innings for the Black Bears, allowing three runs on three hits. Patzalek led UMaine offensively, going 3-for-3 at the plate.

In Saturday’s second game, the Black Bears scored three runs with two outs in the top of the seventh and held off Binghamton in a 7-5 win.

With the score tied at 3 in the seventh, Ian Leisenheimer scored on a two-out double by Patane to give UMaine a 4-3 lead. Fransoso followed with an RBI single and after stealing second base he scored on a Mercurio single to increase the lead to 6-3.

The Bearcats responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, before UMaine added an insurance run on a Matt Howard RBI single in the eighth inning.

Keith Bilodeau (1-1) picked up the win in relief for the Black Bears, going three innings allowing two unearned runs on three hits. Justin Latta pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save of the season.

Fransoso led UMaine with three hits and an RBI. Seven different players drove in runs for the Black Bears.

In Sunday’s first game, freshman right-hander Jeffrey Gibbs escaped a bases loaded, no out jam in the sixth inning and stranded the tying run on second base in the seventh inning as the Black Bears won 3-1.

Gibbs (5-2) scattered nine hits over seven innings, allowing an unearned run and striking out six.

With UMaine leading 3-1 in the sixth inning, Binghamton loaded up the bases. Gibbs got out of the jam unscathed though as he struck out Joel Stubbs and then Mike Danaher grounded into an inning-ending 4-3 double play.

In the seventh inning, Gibbs surrendered a leadoff single and then got two straight outs. Corey Taylor doubled with two outs and the runner advanced to third. With the potential tying run at second base, Gibbs struck out pinch hitter Jeff Skelhorne-Gross to pick up his America East-leading fifth win.

UMaine never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Taylor Lewis drove in Michael Fransoso with an RBI single.

In the fourth inning, Tony Patane hit an RBI single to increase the lead to 2-0.

Binghamton cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth when Danaher hit an RBI single.

UMaine took a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning when Joey Martin drove in Joe Mercurio with an RBI single.

Patane led the Black Bears offensively with two hits.

Mike Aguilera (1-2) picked up the loss for the Bearcats. He went all seven innings allowing three runs. Aguilera struck out eight and walked four.

In Sunday’s second game, Peter Bregartner hit a go-ahead two-run single in a three-run eighth inning as Binghamton edged UMaine 13-11. The Bearcats had a five-run advantage after the first inning.

After the Black Bears took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Binghamton sent 12 batters to the plate in the bottom half, chasing starter Matt Jebb who lasted on 2/3 of an inning. Binghamton scored seven runs in the frame.

UMaine cut into the lead each inning, scoring two runs in the second and third innings and then adding three in the sixth to tie the game at 9.

In the top of the seventh, Mercurio and Lewis hit back-to-back RBI singles to give UMaine an 11-9 advantage.

Binghamton responded with a run in the seventh inning and then pushed across three more in the eighth to take a 13-11 lead.

Binghamton pounded out 19 hits in the contest, while UMaine had 18.

Justin Latta (3-1) picks up the loss in relief for UMaine. He went 3 2/3 innings and gave up four runs, three of those in the eighth inning.

UMaine was led offensively by Tyler Patzalek and Mercurio who each had four hits. Joey Martin had three RBI.

By most flawed I don’t mean it’s the worst product because the WNBA and any other women’s sport takes the cake.

In the NBA, there is no such thing as team basketball as players just go one-on-one for most of the game and it turns into a game that should instead be played at Rucker Park. Referee don’t blow the whistle when a player takes off from halfcourt for a layup. Players bring guns to the locker room. Okay, that was just a shot at Gilbert Arenas and it’s not like the NFL hasn’t had problems with gun issues.

The point is the NBA isn’t what it used to be. I can remember sitting down on a Sunday afternoon in the ’90s for an NBA tripleheader on NBC. Maybe it’s because I didn’t really have anything else to do as an eight-year old kid, but players couldn’t get away with what they do today. The game was exciting.

Today, the NBA certainly has plenty of star power. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and Dwight Howard are four of the most powerful sports icons in the world. I mean come on, Jay-Z even mentions James and Wade in one of his songs. That speaks for itself.

With star power, the NBA is extremely marketable. They do a great job at it. The best commercials on television are the new “Where Amazing Happens” commercials.

Next, does the NBA have great history? Yes it does, and when the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, the two most successful basketball franchises in history, are involved in playoff runs, it only makes it better.

I’m not arguing the fact that the NBA has great athletes, ambassadors and a great history. It’s just the fact that the NBA isn’t what it used to be when Michael Jordan and the Bulls dominated the landscape, the Knicks battled with the Pacers and Heat or when the Spurs started their decade-long run of excellence.

For 48 minutes, NBA players don’t give it all they have. Look at the college game. The NCAA Tournament is a three-week extravaganza and I can sit and watch every second of every single game. I can not even sit through half of an NBA game because instead of players playing with a purpose and representing their schools, NBA players play with a purpose of a paycheck.

I know many people who have the same opinion when it comes to the NBA. I also know many people who don’t watch a lick of regular season hockey and sit down and watch NHL playoff hockey because unlike the NBA it’s exciting (That’s despite the fact that most games are on the Versus network and not many people know what channel that is).

Instead of watching the NBA Playoffs, I will look forward to next month’s NBA Draft Lottery. It’s more exciting watching Ping-Pong balls determining the order of the June draft.

Instead the sophomore took a different path in college, passing up the chance to play Division I football for the chance for college baseball at the University of Maine.

“It was a really tough choice,” said the Montville, Conn., native. “I was being recruited by some top schools for football. You get the fan base at the big football schools and all the perks. In the end, I kind of thought the better choice would be baseball, especially on my body. It’s a sport that you’re always going to miss playing, but overall I think I made the right choice.”

It seems to be working out for the America East Conference’s top hitter, who leads the preseason favorite Black Bears into conference play and is the early favorite to garner the Player of the Year award.

Lewis leads the league in batting average (.417), hits (50), runs (38), RBIs (35), triples (9), total bases (88), on-base percentage (.486), slugging percentage (.733) and stolen bases (16). He also ranks near the top in doubles (8 – fourth), walks (15 – fourth) and home runs (4 – sixth).

The three-time America East Player of the Week hit for the cycle in a 9-2 win over the University of Albany on Sunday. In that game, he set the single-season record for triples at UMaine with nine.

Coach Steve Trimper and his staff knew the center fielder had the talent to be a top-tier talent.

“We said it when we recruited him that he could be the potential [America East] Player of the Year for multiple seasons and he’s on track to do that,” Trimper said. “He could get drafted out of here if he keeps this up.”

In Lewis’ freshman season, he played a reserve role for the Black Bears, who had a veteran-laden outfield led by former standouts Billy Cather and Kevin McAvoy.

Lewis played in 35 games last season with 18 starts, and batted .282 with two home runs and 12 RBI.

Despite coming off the bench most of the season, Lewis was groomed to replace Cather, a four-year starter. Cather has since taken on the volunteer assistant coach position for the Black Bears and has been Lewis’ biggest influence.

“I give nobody on this team more credit than Billy Cather,” Trimper said. “He took him under his wing last season as a player. He’s worked with Taylor all fall, more than any other coach here.”

Lewis calls Cather his “biggest mentor” and added that having him around as a coach has helped him immensely.

“It was great coming here,” Lewis said. “In some ways, I’m actually glad I didn’t play every day. Just sitting on the bench seeing what [Cather] did, what he did up at bat — every day I was asking him questions.”

This season, Lewis got off to a scorching start during UMaine’s spring trip to Florida and has since kept up his torrid streak. In the conference-opening series at Albany this past weekend, Lewis had a streak where he had eight straight hits.

“Baseball’s all about confidence,” he said. “Going up there knowing that whatever they pitch – if they pitch around you, you’re not swinging, and if they make a mistake, you’re going to hit it where it is. I have that confidence and I had it in Albany.”

While it has been a pleasant surprise for the coaching staff to see Lewis emerge after the Black Bears lost three of their top hitters to graduation, Trimper believes he is just scratching the surface of his potential.

“We recruited him and went really hard after him knowing that he was a raw baseball player. He’s a football player,” Trimper said of the 6-foot, 200-pound Lewis. “He can run through the walls and he could play for three-quarters of the schools in the country. He chose baseball because, once he learned to play, he could be a superstar.”

The football mentality has also helped Lewis deal with the day-to-day grind and 50-plus game college schedule.

“You go out some days where you’re sore and I’ve had plenty of those days,” he said. “Coming from a football background, you learn to play with little injuries.”

Trimper credits Lewis for waiting for his chance in the lineup and a strong summer performance for the Forest City (N.C.) Owls of the Coastal Plains League.

“I think Taylor was patient with that process and played in a good summer league last year,” Trimper said.

As a first-year starter, Lewis has exceeded many expectations, but has not surprised himself.

“You always go into the season expecting to do great things,” Lewis said. “I hope that I keep on putting up these numbers and helping out my team especially.”

Trimper compares his current star to former Black Bear standout Joe Hough and believes Lewis has the “tools to play at the next level.”

This summer, Lewis is slated to play for the Amsterdam Mohawks of the New York Collegiate Baseball League, where shortstop Tony Patane played last summer.

For Lewis, this summer could be the last time he plays in a collegiate summer league, as he is draft-eligible in 2011. Right now though, Lewis and the Black Bears are focused on winning the America East title.

In Saturday’s nine-inning game, the Black Bears struggled, losing 11-10 to a Great Danes team that had only won a single game all year.

“The first game in Albany was the second loss of the year where we just flat out lost the game,” said UMaine coach Steve Trimper, noting a 7-6 loss on March 4 to St. Bonaventure was the other loss. “We played horrible – poor defense, poor pitches and kind of gave the game away.”

Trimper’s squad responded positively in Sunday’s doubleheader, garnering a 9-2 win in the first contest and an 11-5 victory in game two, and showed America East why it was picked to finish first in the conference.

UMaine, which has won 11 of their last 12 games, hopes to continue their hot streak and avoid a collapse similar to last Saturday when they visit defending league champion Binghamton University for a four-game series starting on Saturday.

The two teams will play doubleheaders beginning at noon on Saturday and Sunday.

Leading the charge for UMaine (17-14 overall, 2-1 America East) heading into this weekend’s showdown with Binghamton (10-15, 2-1) is sophomore center fielder Taylor Lewis, the reigning America East Player of the Week.

Lewis has earned that honor three times this season and leads the conference in several offensive categories including batting average (.417), hits (50), runs (38), RBIs (35), triples (9), total bases (88), on-base percentage (.486), slugging percentage (.733) and stolen bases (16).

During last Saturday’s game one win, Lewis hit for the cycle and at one point during the weekend he had recorded a hit in eight straight at-bats.

The sophomore star isn’t the only one producing offensively for UMaine, which ranks first in America East in team batting average (.313).

Senior catcher Joe Mercurio (.358, 6 HR, 30 RBI), junior first basemen/outfielder Joey Martin (.345, 1 HR, 25 RBI), senior shortstop Tony Patane (.336, 4 HR, 28 RBI) and freshman utility player Tyler Patzalek (.317, 1 HR, 18 RBI) are all hitting over .300, showing the depth in the lineup.

“Taylor’s on fire and it’s been a great surprise,” Trimper said. “I made a statement at the beginning of the season, where I said I don’t think we’re going to have one standout hitter, but we’re going to have a balanced lineup. I thought were going to do that, but Taylor’s been hitting, Joey [Martin] and the bottom of our lineup’s been hitting.”

With a potent offense backing them, the pitching staff for UMaine has emerged as a strength. They lead the league in team earned run average (5.13).

“The way we pitch and the way we’ve been swinging the bats, it’s almost hard not to be in the games,” Mercurio said. “Our pitchers are starting to know that we’re going to be in every game and the looser they get, the looser our offense gets.”

The pitching staff is led by a pair of freshmen, Jeffrey Gibbs and Steve Perakslis. Gibbs has assumed the top role for the Black Bears, leading the conference in wins (4), innings pitched (46) and strikeouts (46). The Toronto, Ontario native, who owns a victory over the University of North Carolina, has been dominant in his last three starts, allowing only four runs in over 17 innings.

“Our young guys, Gibbs and Perakslis, have lightning arms, particularly Gibbs,” Trimper said. “Each one has a chance each week and dominate a team.”

Filling out the rotation are right-handers A.J. Bazdanes and Matt Jebb, with the bullpen led by Keith Bilodeau, Justin Latta, Barry Kieffer and Myckie Lugbauer.

With depth and the addition of former ace Joe Miller who is slated to return to action from Tommy John surgery in the coming weeks, Trimper likes his team’s chances heading into the conference tourney next month.

“We have depth, and when we get to the end of the season, guys are going to be a little bit more rested,” he said. “It’s impossible to win a tournament with three pitchers because they aren’t going to throw three complete games.”

Scheduling national powers such as UNC and Oregon State has helped the Black Bears as they prepared for conference play.

“We scheduled extremely tough this year and I think it’s paid off dividends,” Trimper said. “I think that got us ready for seeing pitching at our conference level. Oregon State is the best pitching staff I’ve ever seen. They have a major league staff.”

With a target on their backs as the top team, the Black Bears don’t see any pressure with that role.

“Everybody’s pretty loose,” Mercurio said. “I think it gave us more firepower. Everybody’s more excited. Last year we were picked to finish third and my first year here we were picked to finish third. Finally, all the work that we’ve put in here has finally shown. It kind of gave us that killer instinct too.”

With the move of Santonio Holmes to the Jets and Brandon Marshall to the Dolphins, this may be the year where the New England Patriots are not favored to win the division heading into the season, especially after New York’s run to the conference championship game last season. Discounting the Buffalo Bills, who are not going anywhere in this extremely competitive division, the AFC East could have three playoff teams when January rolls around. Here is a look inside the three contenders in the division:

New England Patriots – As long as Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are around, this team is always going to contend, but in last year’s playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens, the defense was exposed and Brady and Co. could not muster anything on offense. The team is aging, needs offensive weapons and needs to fix its Achilles’ heel – pass rushing. The Patriots have been quiet on the free agent and trade market unlike their division rivals, but hold the keys to the 22nd overall pick in next week’s NFL Draft as well as three second rounders. They have the option to trade up and pick up a top-tier talent, acquire a player on the trading block or stay put and draft from their position to fill the holes on their team. A good move would be to stay put in the first round and draft a pass rusher, trade a second rounder to the Chicago Bears for tight end Greg Olsen and fill other holes on their team through the draft. Trust in Bill Belichick and Co.

New York Jets – The Jets have been the story of the offseason and will be until Brett Favre revs up his engine again. They have acquired LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Cromartie and Santonio Holmes and released Thomas Jones. All three of those players have question marks, though. Does Tomlinson have enough left in the tank? Cromartie has seven children in five different states and has paternity suits filed against him. Holmes is a Pro Bowl receiver, but will be suspended the first four games for substance abuse. If Rex Ryan can keep these problems aside, the Jets will be the team to beat because quarterback Mark Sanchez finally has big-time passing weapons, a great backfield and the league’s top defense just got better.

Miami Dolphins – Miami has made two big splashes this offseason, first signing the top linebacker, Karlos Dansby, and then trading for Marshall. If they were in a different division, they may be favored, but won’t be in this gauntlet having to play New England and New York twice each in 2010. However, quarterback Chad Henne has a year under his belt, and with Marshall they fill a huge need of a playmaker on the outside. If Ronnie Brown can stay healthy, which is always a question, they will have a great backfield. Defensively, this unit struggled at times last season, but with the addition of Dansby, that shores up the linebacking corps. With the No. 12 pick in the draft, they can get defensive line help with hopes of filling that hole.

The Bills aren’t really relevant in this league, so they will not be contending this season or in the upcoming years unless they hit the jackpot in the draft and free agency. With that said, the three AFC East contenders are all playoff-worthy teams, but it will be very hard for all three to sneak into the playoffs considering each team plays their division rival twice each year.

The Jets will make the playoffs and be a big-time Super Bowl threat unless Cromartie continues making children, Holmes fizzles out and heads to a nightclub with a gun in his pocket and Sanchez doesn’t continue his development in his second season. New England will either win the division or snag a wildcard spot because they have Brady and will upgrade in the draft. Miami looks like the odd man out, but if Marshall can keep his issues off the gridiron, the outcome could be different.

“The one thing you can count on if you go into sports journalism is sports are never going to go away,” said Craig Neff, an assistant editor at Sports Illustrated. “People saying sports are going to get cut will never win. They are just getting bigger and bigger and there are more media platforms.”

For the 51-year-old Neff, who splits his time between his home in Bar Harbor and an apartment in Manhattan, this era represents a shift in journalism, something far different from when be began his career with SI in 1978.

“Sports journalism is in a growth stage, but the media is in transition to a more web-based, online platform,” he said.

Neff grew up in Roxbury, Conn., and developed a love and dream for working in sports.

“For whatever reason, I became a sports fan and that was my true love,” Neff said. “I was a good student and all, but my papers I wrote about sports and all the books I read were sports books.”

In high school, Neff and a friend launched a counter-newspaper to their high school publication and there he developed another love – politics. His friend’s father worked for a newspaper and Neff envisioned himself covering politics for a magazine in Washington, D.C.

After high school, he moved onto Colgate University, a private liberal arts school in Hamilton, N.Y. There, Neff pursued a communications and political science degree while still keeping his sports dream alive. He was the sports editor for the university’s newspaper, was involved with sports radio and also worked for Colgate’s sports information department.

It wasn’t until the summer before his senior year that Neff realized his dream could become reality when he applied for an internship after working previous summers at a dairy farm.

“Before junior summer, I stopped into the Career Center – the only time I ever went in there – and saw there was a magazine internship program,” Neff said.

Neff and about 20 other rising seniors were offered the internship and then came the tell-tale moment that pushed him toward a career in sports journalism.

“They gave us a list of 20 magazines and you had to name your top three magazine choices and write an essay on why you selected them,” he said. “Newsweek was there. Sports Illustrated was there as well as several other magazines. I then thought I’m not so confident in my credentials to argue why I can work for a political magazine. So I went with my strength and got the one position at Sports Illustrated.”

From the summer of 1978 onward, Neff has filled several positions for SI and has moved up the masthead of the weekly publication to his position of assistant editor, one step below the managing editor post.

Neff’s role as an intern at SI’s New York City office gave him a glimpse of the functions of a newsroom from top to bottom. He worked at the magazine as a reporter, which mostly consisted of a fact-checking role.

“You do some writing, some reporting, but most of it was fact-checking a lot of stories,” he said. “It was a really great way of learning the business.”

Neff finished his internship at the end of the summer and graduated early, finishing his degree in three-and-a-half years. Fresh out of college, he took the first reporting job he was offered as a general assignment reporter for a daily newspaper in his home state.

His job for the newspaper was a short-lived one though after he got a call a few weeks into his new role.

“I had been there three weeks and then Sports Illustrated called and said, ‘We have a position because someone is leaving. Might you be interested in it?’ I was getting paid $6,800-7,200 a year, living in someone’s basement, working 18 hours a day. That versus Sports Illustrated was a pretty easy choice,” Neff said.

After accepting the position as a fact-checker, Neff was given the opportunity to start writing after impressing one of the editors at SI.

“Through working on stories each week, there was an editor who seemed to like me and was like maybe he would like to work on writing stories,” Neff said.

Two years later, Neff was promoted to staff writer and began covering the Olympics and working as a general assignment reporter for college football.

As a young writer, Neff traveled a lot, including a memorable summer in 1983 when he was not in the United States.

“In 1983, I left the U.S. and didn’t get back until August. I was doing mostly Olympics stuff and I ended up in Helsinki, Finland at the World Track & Field Championships. Those got over on Sunday afternoon, and then I got onto a Learjet with all of the film and two months worth of my belongings and headed to London,” he said.

After taking a Concorde flight to New York City, Neff said he took a taxi from John F. Kennedy International Airport to the SI offices. He spent two hours in the office, dropping off the film and then took a flight to Caracas, Venezuela, to cover the Pan-American Games.

“I was there for a little over a week and then this big drug scandal broke,” Neff said. “It was the first real doping, steroids scandal in sports ever and all of these athletes fled and left the games because they didn’t want to be drug tested. Because it was sort of the stone ages for reporting it was easier to get on a plane and write my story back in New York City.”

Neff said the “whirlwind experience” helped launch his career into being an investigative editor, which is one of the areas he currently handles.

The extensive traveling eventually started to wear down Neff, who also covered the baseball beat for the magazine.

“I was gone all the time and the opportunity to begin editing became more appealing because it was a little less wear and tear,” Neff said.

In 1990, Neff became the managing editor at Sports Illustrated for Kids and served in the chief position for the monthly publication for nearly six years.

In 1996, as SI’s managing editor changed, Neff was asked to come back to serve as one of the assistant editors, a position he has served in ever since.

His duties as editor include spending most of the day Sunday editing stories and writing headlines before the publication’s Monday deadline. On Thursdays and Fridays, Neff works on investigative projects.

Throughout his career he has covered several Olympic Games and interviewed athletes such as Bo Jackson, Dan Marino, Karl Malone, Pete Rose and Charles Barkley.

If it hadn’t been for that walk into his school’s Career Center 32 years ago though, Neff might have never had the opportunity.