Gianni Gambardella Begins Senior Season With UMaine

Dominic Konareski
29 minutes ago
2 min read

West Haven, Connecticut native Gianni Gambardella has officially entered his senior season at the University of Maine as one of the Black Bears’ most experienced hurlers and a hopeful prospect in the upcoming 2026 Major League Baseball Draft.

Standing at a towering 6-foot-2, Gambardella has developed into a key contributor for the Black Bears' pitching staff.

Graduating as part of the 2022 Class at West Haven High School, Gambardella was already committed to UMaine after what was a thrilling two-way senior season that included a .473 batting average and 63 strikeouts with a 1.43 ERA. If those stats weren’t already impressive enough, Gambardella didn't strike out once at the plate and had an OBP of .565 for West Haven.

To stay sharp over the 2025/26 offseason , Gambardella played in the prestigious Cape Cod League for the Harwich Mariners. The Cape Cod League is considered to hold some of the nation’s top collegiate position players and pitchers. Gambardella recorded 24.2 innings on the mound for the Mariners and pitched to a sub 3.00 ERA of 2.55, and a 2-1 record across 6 games (4 starts).

Maine opened up their season on the road vs Duke on Friday, February 13th. Opening Day featured a double header between Maine and Duke. On the mound to start game one was Gambardella.

The former West Haven Blue Devil took on the Duke Blue Devils.

Now as a seasoned senior staying with the team he committed to as a high school senior, Gambardella took the mound to notch the first innings on the mound for the Black Bears.

The Westie looked good for opening day, but his pitch count would go high after multiple errors by Maine’s defense and allowing multiple walks. In 5 innings, Gambardella would see 5 runs cross the plate, but only 3 were earned runs. Gambardella tossed 82 pitches and faced 24 batters before being taken out.

Duke would score a total of eight times, taking down the Black Bears, 8-3, and giving Gambardella and Maine their first loss of the season.

GAMBARDELLA BOX SCORE

82 NP | 4 H | 4 BB | 2 SO | 5 R | 3 ER

Gambardella will go into his next game with a season ERA of 5.40, which is currently inflated due to him appearing in just one game thus far. Gambardella is projected to be Maine’s starting pitcher in their next game on Friday, February 20th, against High Point University.

Overall, in 31 career games (16 starts), Gambardella has pitched to the tune of a 4.25 ERA in 131.1 innings.