April 6, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass baseball team will begin its quest to defend its 2008 Beanpot championship as the squad will take on Boston College at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, Mass., at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evening in the opening round of the Beanpot Tournament. The game will be broadcast live on WMUA, 91.1 FM, while GameTracker will be available, as well. Next Monday, Apr. 13, the Beanpot consolation and championship games will be played at Fenway Park, at 2:05 p.m. and 5:05 p.m., respectively.

Probable Starters
• RHP Garrett Butt (0-0, 5.17 ERA) vs. LHP Pat Dean (4-1, 4.00 ERA)

Minutemen In The Beanpot
• UMass has been competing in the Beanpot since 1996 and holds a record of 12-13, including a 3-5 mark against Boston College.
• In first round games, the Minutemen are 7-6 and advanced to the championship game last season with a 3-0 win over Harvard in Lynn, Mass. The squad then defeated the Eagles, 4-3, to take the title. UMass' other two wins against B.C. both have come in first round matchups.
• Last year's Beanpot championship was the fifth in program history as the team also claimed titles in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000.

Tempesta Has Chance To Reach Milestone In Homecoming Trip
• Brockton native Adam Tempesta is three hits shy of his 200th of his career entering Tuesday night's game against Boston College in his return to his hometown as he currently ranks fourth in program history with 197. When Tempesta logs his 200th hit, he will be just the third player in school history to reach the plateau, joining Muchie Dagliere (257) and Bill Knight (203).
• Tempesta is currently hitting .341 with 12 runs scored, eight doubles, one triple, three homeruns and 18 RBI in 21 games played.
• He leads the team in multiple-hit games (10) and is tied for the team lead in multiple-RBI games (4).
• The second baseman entered the season 10th all-time in career doubles and has now moved up to fourth with 43, one shy of Aaron Senez for third (44) and seven away from the school record.
• Tempesta has recorded at least one base hit in 18 of 21 games that he has appeared in this season, 18 of the 20 games he's started.
• Dating back to the end of last season, Tempesta posted hits in 10 straight contests after ending 2008 on a four-game hitting streak and opening this year hitting safely in six straight. The senior's career-high was an 11-game hitting streak as sophomore in 2007.

Copa Helps UMass Hand Temple First A-10 Loss
• Sophomore Peter Copa helped lift the Minutemen to a 7-6 victory over Temple this past Sunday as he singled in the sixth inning and came around for the run that tied the score at four.
• The following inning, Copa gave UMass the lead for good with his third homerun of the season.
• In three games against the Owls, Copa hit .417 (5-for-12) with a team-best five runs scored.
• In Atlantic 10 games, Copa is tied for second in runs per-game (1.33) as he has crossed the plate 12 times in nine games. He is tied for second in home runs per-game as well (0.33, three in nine games).

Gedman Contibutes At The Plate And On The Mound
• Junior Mike Gedman has been the go-to guy out of the bullpen for the Minutemen and has four saves in nine appearances, which is tied for second in the Atlantic 10.
• His saves came in wins over Arizona (9-8), VCU (4-3), Hartford (6-4) and Temple (7-6).
• Gedman has limited opponents to a .184 batting average and holds a 3.29 ERA with 12 strikeouts.
• At the plate, Gedman has hit 9-for-36 (.250) with three doubles and two triples for a .444 slugging percentage and has contributed six RBI.

Close Quarters
• UMass has played nine Atlantic 10 contests to date and is 2-7, but has taken every game down to the wire.
• Seven of the Minutemen's nine A-10 games have been decided by one run, with three going into extra innings. The only margin larger than two runs was UMass' 24-9 triumph over Richmond.
• Overall, 13 of the Minutemen's 23 contests have been one-run games. Seventeen of 23 outcomes have been determined by two runs or fewer.

Hitting Streaks
• The following is a list of all hitting streaks five games or longer in 2009:
• Adam Tempesta, eight games, Mar. 14-28
• Mike Donato, seven games, Feb. 27-Mar. 14
• Jim Macdonald, six games, Mar. 7-22
• Austin Weymouth, five games, Feb. 27-Mar. 7 (has an active five-game streak)
• Tom Conley, five games, Mar. 22-28
• Brian Baudinet, five games, Mar. 20-27
• Peter Copa, five games, Mar. 20-27 (has an active five-game streak)
• Sam Boone, five games, Mar. 14-18

A New Face Behind The Mask In 2009
• UMass has a new face behind the plate this season as freshman Tom Conley has been a part of the Minutemen's battery in 22 of 23 games, making 21 starts.
• Conley paces the team in walks with 15 on the year and boasts a .425 on-base percentage.
• He has recorded at least one hit in nine of the last ten games and is batting .333 in Atlantic 10 play (9-for-27) with nine runs scored and a .471 on-base percentage.

Clegg Among The A-10 Leaders
• Senior Mitchell Clegg is among the Atlantic 10 leaders as the left-hander entered the week sixth in opponent batting average (.222) and tied for 11th in strikeouts (33).
• Clegg took a no-hitter into the seventh in his start at Fordham, struck out nine in 7.0 innings at Arizona and fanned eight in 5.1 innings at Richmond.

Juniors Contributing Offensively
• Juniors Brian Baudinet and Mike Donato are both well on their way career-best seasons offensively and are the lone two players to start every game thus far for the Minutemen.
• Baudinet belted his team-best eighth double of the season against Temple this past weekend and already has surpassed his single season high for two-baggers (5) and tallied at least one in five straight games from Mar. 20-27. He is also more than halfway to his career high for RBI as he has 15 in 23 games compared to 23 in 44 games last season.
• Donato is hitting .337 (32-for-95) with 14 runs scored, six doubles and 16 RBI. His single-season bests heading into his junior campaign were 12 runs (2007), 31 hits (2008), eight doubles (2008) and 19 RBI (2008).
• Donato is tied for first in the Atlantic 10 with six sacrifice hits on the season.
• In the conference only statistics, Donato is tied for fifth in hits per-game (1.67, 15 in nine games), while Baudinet is tied for seventh in stolen bases per game (0.44, four in nine games) and second in doubles per-game (0.67, six in nine games).

Smashing the Spiders
• UMass raced out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back, posting a 24-9 victory over Richmond at Pitt Field on Mar. 22. It marked the most runs ever scored by the Minutemen against an A-10 opponent.
• The Minutemen pounded out 24 hits against the Spiders, two shy of the program's single game mark, including a school single game-record eight doubles.
• Eleven different players tallied hits for UMass, led by junior Mike Donato's career-best 5-for-7 performance as he contributed four RBI and scored two.

Serino Stifles VCU
• Sophomore Nick Serino fanned a career-high 11 batters over six scoreless innings, helping UMass to a 4-3 victory over Virginia Commonwealth at The Diamond on Mar. 18.
• The Rams had won seven of their past nine games entering the contest.
• Serino earned the victory, scattering three hits and walking five. He did not allow a hit until the fourth inning.
• His 11 strikeouts were the most by a Minuteman since Apr. 16, 2005, when Matt Torra fanned 16 batters in 10.2 innings against Saint Joseph's.
• Serino's previous career high for strikeouts (7) came in a start at George Washington on Apr. 6, 2008. He worked 6.1 innings against the Colonials.

Team Triples
• UMass has seven triples in 20 games and surpassed the team total from last year just nine games in to the 2009 season. The Minutemen registered five three-baggers in 45 games in 2008.
• Seven triples is the highest total by a UMass squad since the team belted eight in 2006.

Stone's 600th
• With seven wins on the season, UMass head coach Mike Stone is now just five victories away from his 600th overall as a head coach. Stone currently holds a 595-549-4 mark in 26+ seasons. He is 541-459-2 as the frontman for the Minutemen (21+ seasons).

Minutemen Post Big Win Out West
• The Minutemen never put down their bats as they scored in five of the nine innings to squeeze past the Arizona Wildcats on Mar. 7, marking the first time UMass had taken down a Pac-10 opponent since 1982 when the Minutemen defeated UCLA, 11-7.
• Mitchell Clegg got the nod and the win for UMass as he struck out nine in his seven innings pitched, scattering five hits.
• In the top of the ninth, junior Mike Donato posted what would be the winning run for the UMass after launching the ball over the left field wall for his first homerun of the season.

Starting Off On A Good Note
• Sam Boone hit his first career home run on Feb. 27 in a 4-3 triumph over Northwestern, helping propel the Minutemen to their first victory in a season opener since 2004. Junior Mike Gedman hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning of a 3-3 game to bring in Mike Donato for what would be the winning run. Senior Mitchell Eilenberg earned the win on the mound, pitching 2.2 innings of relief.
• UMass' 9-8 victory over Arizona on Mar. 7 brought the squad's record to 3-2, marking the best five-game start for the Minutemen since 2002 (3-2).

An Offensive Explosion
• UMass posted 25-4 triumph over Fairfield on Mar. 1, marking the most runs the squad has scored since the school record was set with 32 runs against another team from the Nutmeg State, Central Connecticut on April 20, 1993.
• Against the Stags, the Minutemen pounded out 20 hits, including five doubles, two homeruns and a school-record four triples. The previous mark was three, set many times.
• Sophomore Peter Copa paced the squad with a career-best six RBI and was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate. Senior Adam Tempesta and junior Brian Baudinet had four RBI apiece.

Next Up
• UMass will play host to UConn on Wednesday, Apr. 8, at 3 p.m. The game was rescheduled from Monday afternoon.