T.J. Sheedy was a career .322 hitter at Maine entering the current spring trip in Florida.

But he has been a notoriously slow starter, hitting .253 on last year’s spring trip and .242 the year before.

Not this year.

Third baseman Sheedy will enter Friday afternoon’s game against the University of Michigan hitting a whopping .571 with 16 hits in 28 at-bats for the 3-4 Bears.

First-year Maine coach Paul Kostacopoulos said there is nothing flukey about Sheedy’s average.

“He’s been hitting ropes, he really has,” said Kostacopoulos who moved Sheedy from the second spot in the order to third.

“I don’t know what’s been happpening. I feel good right now. I’ve been seeing the ball well,” said Sheedy. “We’ve worked on a lot of different things than we had in the past. That has helped.

“I’ve been getting a lot of good pitches to hit. I haven’t been popping up pitches I should get hits on. They’ve been finding holes,” he added.

Sheedy likes hitting in the third spot.

“You get a better chance to hit with people on base. I don’t have to sacrifice at-bats to move runners like I did in the two spot,” said Sheedy.

He leads the team in runs scored (7), on-base percentage (.655) and slugging percentage (.625). He is tied with Nick Caiazzo for the lead in totla bases (15).

Maine’s other offensive catalyst has been junior right fielder Ron Coombs of Kingman, who has been thrust into the leadoff spot and has responded by hitting .333 with a team-high three steals.

“Ronnie has handled the leadoff spot well. He’s pretty quick and he’s a heck of a competitor,” Kostacopoulos said.

First baseman Jeff Longo (.320) and shortstop Bryan Harvie (.313)were the other regulars over .300; Caiazzo has two homers and a .280 average to go with his team-high 9 RBIs.

Everybody else is at .240 or below with CF Jay Phillips, a transfer from Clemson, off to an .091 start and 11 strikeouts in 22 at-bats.

“But Jay hasn’t taken his bat to the outfield. He’s played very good outfield for us. The tools are there for him to be good. It’ll just be a matter of time,” said Kostacopoulos.

Senior Garrett Quinn has been the ace of the staff with the 14-3 win over Rollins that snapped a 31-game spring trip losing streak and a save in the 7-6 win over Virginia Tech.

“I think the pitching staff has done better than expected. The team is pretty upbeat right now. We can’t complain about the offense. Everybody has been coming up with clutch hits,” Quinn said.

Longo picked up the Virginia Tech win in relief and his pitching has impressed Kostacopoulos. Quinn, Dave Foran and Andy Estabrook will be the top three starters with Kostacopoulos seeking a fourth starter from among Jared Cochran, Jon Dickinson and Brian Glover.

Sherman Station’s Sam Shippee looked good in a couple of mop-up relief roles and then picked up the win in a 4-2 10-inning victory over Rollins on Thursday. He pitched a perfect 10th inning.

Kostacopoulos also liked Cochran’s first outing against a heavy-hitting Michigan team.

The Bear coach isn’t satisfied with the 3-4 record but said it was good to snap the spring trip losing streak.

“I do think we’re at least playing competitive baseball. The Virginia Tech win was a great one not just because we won but those are the kinds of games we’re going to be faced with all season. No matter who we play, we’re going to have to battle and scrap to win. We’ve still got a long, long way to go,” Kostacopoulos said.