The University of Maine baseball team is off to a tough start to the season, with a 9-16 overall record and 1-3 conference mark.
That’s not to say that there are not some encouraging signs for the team, including the addition of a transfer talent from Illinois in third-year Brett Chappell for this season.
Chappell played his first season at Northern Illinois University and then a season of junior college baseball at Parkland College. He now is the Black Bears’ starting second baseman, and bats in the cleanup spot of the batting order.
Chappell played baseball for Rock Falls High School, coached by his father in his home state of Illinois. Chappell had quite the high school baseball career, garnering some impressive accomplishments. He was player of the year twice, a first-team all-state selection his senior year and was named Quad City Times player of the year. He also had a jaw dropping batting average of .500 on the season, and just dominated the competition.
Chappell didn’t miss a beat after high school, playing as a captain at Parkland, where he hit .365 with three home runs last season.
Chappell may be far away from home, but he has had no trouble adjusting to the school or baseball team and is off to a great start this season.
“Right off the bat I’ve had a really good connection with everybody, having that connection has really helped make the transition easy,” Chappell said.
He is currently batting .352 on the year, with a team-leading 23 RBI and six doubles. He approaches his at-bats with patience, one at a time.
“It’s staying simple, not trying to do to much up there,” he said.
While tearing it up at the plate, his defense has been flawless so far in conference play. Though it may be early in conference play, Chappell is yet to record an American East error.
While the team is up to a tough start, two of their conference losses came in extra innings and easily could have been wins for the Black Bears.
Chappell is still very confident in the team and believes they can still win the conference.
“Our goal is to win the America East, hopefully get to a regional and see what we can do there,” he said. “It’s just a matter of getting on a hot streak which we’re capable of doing.”
Chappell is certainly doing all he can at the plate and defensively to try and accomplish winning the conference title.
Chappell has a dream of playing professional baseball but if that doesn’t pan out, then he wants to become a teacher. His goal is to attend graduate school to get his masters and become an athletic director.