May 6, 2007

Box Score

AMHERST, Mass.- The Richmond Spiders jumped on Tim Comiskey (Great River, N.Y.) early and kept the UMass offense at bay to down the home-town team, 6-4. After winning six consecutive games the Maroon and White have now dropped two straight contests. UMass made a comeback in the seventh inning, but ultimately fell short. Comiskey was handed his fourth loss of the season and did not survive the third inning.

Richmond took advantage of UMass' control problems, as Comiskey issued six bases on balls in his 2.2 innings of work and UMass as a team walked 10. The Minutemen found themselves in a hole when Comiskey yielded a run in the first and two in the second.

The UMass defense prevented Richmond from opening up a bigger lead and kept the game within reach. Third baseman Ryan Franczek (Chicopee, Mass.) continued his spectacular play in the field of late with a bare-handed play in the fourth and Travis Munsey (Durham, N.H.) ended the third inning with an acrobatic catch. At the other corner-outfield position, Jim Cassidy (Medway, Mass.) took away a run on a deep fly by Vince Riggi and made a fine running grab in the top of the ninth, narrowly escaping a collision with Bill Rankin (Willington, Conn.).

UMass quelled Richmond's offense in the fifth and eighth innings by turning two 5-4-3 double plays.

The Minutemen offense was unable to put together any sustained attack until the seventh inning as each UMass single up to that point came in a different inning. UMass' second batter of the game, Cassidy, reached base safely on an infield hit in the first, Mike Donato (East Hartford, Conn.) singled in the third and Adam Tempesta (Brockton, Mass.) followed suit in the fourth.

Down 6-0 in the seventh, UMass had its best chance to even the score. They loaded the bases for Andy Tuetken (Smithfield, R.I.), who singled to left field to advance each runner 90 feet. Munsey followed with an almost identical single through the left side to score another run. After the third UMass run scored on Lou Proietti's (Hamilton, Ont.) double play, Tuetken, the only Minuteman to have two hits, crossed home when Cassidy reached base on a third-strike wild pitch.

Bill Rankin gave the Minutemen faithful a scare when he crashed into the outfield wall while attempting to bring back a Alex Wotring home run. Rankin appeared injured and stayed down on the field for a few minutes, but rose to his feet and remained in the game.

UMass will have a day off before returning to action at 3 p.m. on Wednesday when they play host to the Connecticut Huskies. The game will be broadcast live on WMUA 91.1 and can be streamed on UMassAthletics.com.