Minutemen Travel To Rhode Island For Three Games This Weekend
UMass looks to move up the conference standings as the season winds down.
May 8, 2008
AMHERST, Mass. -
UMass baseball (16-22, 9-12 A-10) hits the road this weekend for a crucial three-game Atlantic 10 series at Rhode Island (25-21-1, 12-8-1 A-10). The series commences on Friday with first pitch slated for 3 p.m. at Bill Beck Field in Kingston, R.I. Saturday's game begins at 1 p.m. and the series concludes on Sunday with a noon contest.
With just six A-10 games remaining, every game is critical as UMass looks to move up the conference standings. The Minutemen are currently in 11th-place, while Rhode Island is in fourth. UMass' other remaining A-10 games are against tied-for-seventh-place Fordham. The top six teams advance to the A-10 Championship to be played at Campbell's Field in Camden, N.J. on May 21-24.
UMass is 5-13 on the road this season, while Rhode Island is 11-7 at home.
Free live stats of all three games will be available on Gametracker at UMassAthletics.com. Live audio will also be available through Rhode Island's WRIU 90.3 FM.
Series History
This will be the 158th meeting between the Minutemen and Rams in a series that dates back to 1906. UMass holds a 99-58 advantage.
Last season, Rhode Island took two out of three from the Minutemen at Earl Lorden Field. In the opener on April 7, Jim Macdonald had a 3-for-4 day to lead UMass to a 5-4 win and Mike Stone's 500th victory as UMass head coach. In game-two, Mike Dicato threw 7 2/3 innings of relief, allowing only one earned run, but it wasn't enough as the Minutemen fell in 11 innings, 5-4. It was all URI in the series finale, with the Rams hitting four home runs on the way to a 16-3 win.
UMass baseball has played Rhode Island more than any other program.
Scouting Rhode Island
Rhode Island enters the weekend winners of four-straight and 14 of its last 17 games. Last weekend, the Rams swept Saint Joseph's at home. The previous weekend, they dropped two out of three at La Salle.
Senior catcher Zach Zaneski leads the Rams with 35 RBI, 40 runs scored, 16 doubles, and is slugging .503. His .366 batting average is tied with senior infielder Shaun Hagey for tops on the team. Hagey also leads the team in stolen bases with 11. Senior Mike O'Malley is second on the team in RBI with 29 and has slugged 14 doubles, three triples, and three home runs to go along with .297 average.
Sophomore lefty Nick Greenwood has the top ERA of URI's starting pitchers with a 3.25 mark. He is 4-5 in 11 starts and has fanned 82 batters in 74.2 innings pitched. Senior right-hander Brett Palanski is 5-3 with a 4.71 ERA in 11 starts. Sophomore righty Eric Smith has a 1-4 record with a 5.28 ERA and has held batters to a .216 average. Senior righty Jamie Degidio has a 3.76 ERA in 15 appearances out of the bullpen and leads the team with five saves.
Rhode Island hits .287 as a team and has a 4.30 team ERA.
Tuesday vs. Northeastern
The score was tied 3-3 in the eighth inning when designated hitter Frank Pesanello hit a three-run home run to give Northeastern the lead and UMass' comeback efforts in the ninth inning fell short as the Huskies defeated the Minutemen, 6-4, at Earl Lorden Field. UMass took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, but Northeastern came back with single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth frames. Ryan Franczek was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Jim Macdonald and Andy Tuetken each drove in a run for UMass as well. Mike Tamsin was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and a RBI for the Huskies.
Last Weekend vs. Dayton
It was a pitcher's duel at Earl Lorden Field on Friday, as Dayton held a 1-0 lead going into the seventh inning before the Flyers put up seven runs in the fateful inning on their way to an 8-2 victory over UMass. Lucas Farden pitched a complete game, allowing two runs on six hits, to earn the victory. Mike Dicato was effective for six innings, allowing just one run, before running into trouble in the seventh and taking the loss. Ryan Franczek continued his hot hitting for the Minutemen, going 2-for-3. Andrew Black and Adam Tempesta drove in UMass' two runs.
Behind seven innings of one-run ball from starter Mitchell Clegg, UMass baseball defeated, 3-1, on Saturday. The junior left-hander scattered six hits and struck out three. Mitchell Eilenberg tossed two perfect innings to close the game for his fifth save of the season. Kyle Multner was 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, and a RBI. Andrew Black hit the first home run of his UMass career.
After tying the game in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings and scoring again in the 12th inning to stay alive, UMass baseball came through with a run in the 15th inning to take a 5-4 victory over Dayton on Sunday. Andy Tuetken drove in Jim Macdonald with a one-out single to end the game. Macdonald, who was 4-for-6 on the day, had doubled in the previous at-bat to put himself in scoring position. Aaron Smith pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings of relief to earn the victory.
Offense Comes Alive
The Minutemen are hitting .273 as a team in 2008, a 14-point improvement over the club's 2007 team batting average of .259. The team on-base percentage is .353 this season, compared to .334 last season.
The single-season record for team batting average is the Minutemen's .351 mark in 1997. The club record for on-base percentage was set the same season, .446.
Giving Himself Up
Andy Tuetken now has nine sacrifice bunts this season, leading the team. That total is tied for sixth-highest in UMass history and ranks 22nd nationally. The senior first baseman has accomplished this all while hitting fifth in the lineup for much of the season and posting a .281 average with 18 RBI.
Cullan Maumus (2003) and Bill Rankin (2005) are tied for the UMass record of most sacrifice bunts in a single season with 14.
The Minutemen have given themselves up to move a runner over 35 times this season. The team record is 61, set in 2002.
Slick Glovework
Good defensive play is key when a team has a young pitching staff, and that has certainly been the case with UMass this season. The Minutemen currently sport a .961 fielding percentage. That is just 7/1000's off of the team record of .968 set last season.
Four-year starting catcher Bryan Garrity has been the top player defensively for UMass in 2008 with a .991 fielding percentage (two errors in 217 opportunities).
The arms in the outfield have done their share of damage. Center fielder Brian Baudinet and right fielder Mike Donato each have five outfield assists. Andrew Black has three assists from left field, while Garrett Glashoff and Kyle Multner have added two and one, respectively.
DiCato's Dealin'
Junior pitcher Mike Dicato has proven himself as UMass' top pitcher this season. The right-hander is 4-2 this season with a 4.44 ERA and holds opposing batters to a .246 batting average.
On April 15, the Winthrop, Mass. native almost made history in a place that already has plenty of it. In the Beanpot Championship vs. Boston College at Fenway Park, DiCato took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before a bloop single broke it up. We still went on to earn the victory in the game, and along with his win vs. Harvard in the semifinal, led UMass to its first Beanpot title since 2000.
On April 20, DiCato shutout Charlotte over the first five innings on the way to the Minutemen's first-ever win over the 49ers.
Franczek Is Back
After getting off to a slow start this season, Ryan Franczek's bat has come to life as of late. In his last 10 games, the senior shortstop is batting .486 (18-37) with five doubles, a home run, 14 runs scored, and 11 RBI. He also walked 10 times to give him a .604 on-base percentage to go along with a .703 slugging percentage in those 10 games.
Franczek leads the team in runs scored this season with 34 in 37 games. He is also leads the club in doubles with 13.
Mr. Contact
Entering the week, Adam Tempesta ranked as the 35th toughest hitter to strike out in the country. He came in to the week averaging only one strikeout in every 16.6 at-bats. Last week, Tempesta ranked 12th on the list, but dropped slightly after striking out twice during the week. He hasn't just been slapping the ball into play either, along with his .309 average, he leads the team in RBI with 33 and is second in doubles with 12.
Currently, the junior second baseman has struck out only nine times in 149 at-bats.
Last season, Tempesta struck out a total of only 13 times in 186 at-bats.
The next toughest to K Minuteman is Andy Tuetken. He has struck out 13 times in 121 at-bats.
Looking Ahead
After this weekend's games, UMass will travel to Quinnipiac on Tuesday for a 3 p.m. game with the Bobcats. It will be the Minutemen's final non-conference game of the season.
Next week the Minutemen close the regular season by hosting Fordham in a three-game set, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Earl Lorden Field.
