University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
5-3
Bucknell
3-11
Smith’s Double Gives Baseball Walk-Off Win Over Bucknell, 12-11
March 14, 2018 | Baseball
Minutemen sweep three-game series with Bison and have won four in a row
Smith bookended the series with game-winning RBIs, having previously used a base hit on Mon., March 12 to score Alec Norton and help the Minutemen to victory in the opening matchup of the three-game set.
Fry had originally reached on a four-pitch walk with one out, then swiped second base during Smith's at-bat on a head-first slide. That sequence came in the aftermath of a five-run top of the ninth in which Bucknell sent 11 men to bat and washed out an 11-6 Massachusetts lead.
Ryan Lever (3-for-5) and Smith (3-for-4) led the Minutemen at the plate while the latter posted four RBIs on the day. Eddy Hart (8), Lever (7) and Cooper Mrowka (7) all pushed their respective reached base streaks forward and both Hart and Lever have now hit safely in seven straight games. Both of those figures are single-season career-highs for Hart, while Lever's hitting streak matches his seven-game stretch as a freshman in 2016.
Bucknell notched the game's first three runs, using a two-RBI single in the first inning by Tyler Wincig and a base hit from JohnPaul Bell two innings later to jump out to a 3-0 lead. UMass then got on the board with four in the bottom of the fourth, taking a 4-3 lead when a wild pitch brought in Justen Voghel.
After the Bison tied things up at four-apiece in the next half inning, the Minutemen came up with another four-spot to move the score to 8-4 in favor of Massachusetts. That stretch was capped when Fry was eliminated at second base in a double play attempt, but an errant throw to first continued the inning and allowed both Frank DiOrio and Nolan Kessinger to score.
Doubles in the last of the eighth by Smith, Luke Oliphant and Lever plated Fry, Smith and Oliphant, respectively, before the Bison staged their comeback effort.
Casey Aubin (2-0) earned the win on the bump for the second time in three days, working the game's final 1.2 innings. He was charged with Bucknell's final five runs (four earned), six hits and a walk and posted one strikeout. Brenden Tuttle (0-3) took the loss for the Bison after facing all three UMass batters ahead of Smith's heroics.
The Maroon and White improve to 5-3 on the season with the win while Bucknell wraps up the series at 3-11 overall.
UMass will rest on Thursday before opening the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Fri., March 16 against Bradley. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Florida.
For the latest news and updates around UMass baseball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @UMassBaseball.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Aubin, Casey (2-0)
L: Tuttle, Brenden (0-3)
Batting:
2B: Toso, Dominic 2 ; Johnson, Luke 1 ; Bell, JohnPaul 1
3B: Klugerman, Evan 1
HR: Wincig, Tyler 1
RBI: Toso, Dominic 1 ; Hartman, Luke 1 ; Johnson, Luke 1 ; Bell, JohnPaul 3 ; Wincig, Tyler 3 ; Klugerman, Evan 1 ; Madigan, Evan 1
SH: Johnson, Luke 1
SF: Bell, JohnPaul 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Toso, Dominic 2 ; Hartman, Luke 2 ; Smith, Ben 1 ; Johnson, Luke 1 ; Bell, JohnPaul 1 ; Moore, Miles 1 ; Wincig, Tyler 1 ; Klugerman, Evan 1 ; Madigan, Evan 1
Batting:
2B: Oliphant, Luke 1 ; Lever, Ryan 1 ; Smith, Connor 3
RBI: Oliphant, Luke 1 ; Lever, Ryan 1 ; DiOrio, Frank 1 ; Kessinger, Nolan 2 ; Voghel, Justen 1 ; Smith, Connor 4
SH: Voghel, Justen 1 ; Evangelista, Brett 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Oliphant, Luke 1 ; Lever, Ryan 2 ; Hart, Eddy 2 ; Mrowka, Cooper 1 ; DiOrio, Frank 1 ; Kessinger, Nolan 1 ; Voghel, Justen 1 ; Fry, Marcus 2 ; Smith, Connor 1
SB: Fry, Marcus 1
HBP: Hart, Eddy 1 ; Mrowka, Cooper 1 ; Smith, Connor 1 ; Videtto, Anthony 1
PO: Voghel, Justen 1
