University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Saint Joseph's
UMass Baseball Splits With St. Joseph's
May 12, 2000 | Baseball
May 12, 2000
Game #1 123 456 7 R H E St. Joseph's 011 001 0 - 3 8 1 UMass 000 010 0 - 1 6 2Fremont and Reed. Veracka and Morgan. W - Fremont (5-8) L - Veracka (5-4). 2B - Gunn (9). HR - Reed (6). SB - Reed 2 (18), Kulak (22), Anderson (8), G. Clark (11).
Game #2 123 456 7 R H E St. Joseph's 001 002 1 - 4 9 1 UMass 201 122 x - 8 13 1Minerva, Miller (5), Peterson (6) and Reed. Szado and Ellerbrook. W - Szado (4-4) L - Minerva (2-5). 2B - Godusky (18), Kirkby 2 (23), J. Reilly (11), Kulak (7), Gorneault (10). HR - Gunn (5), Gorneault (8). SB - O'Connell (12), G. Clark (11). CS - O'Connell 2 (4).
AMHERST, Mass. - UMass junior Nick Gorneault (Springfield, Mass.) hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season in the nightcap, salvaging a split with the visiting St. Joseph's Hawks in the final weekend of regular season Atlantic 10 baseball action. The Minutemen now stand at 23-20-1, 10-9-1 in the A-10. The Hawks move to 20-31, 8-12 in the conference.
St. Joseph's took the opening game 3-1 behind a strong pitching performance from sophomore Scott Fremont. Fremont allowed six UMass hits, all singles. Hawk catcher Rob Reed hit a solo home run in the top of the second to put the Hawks up 1-0 after two innings. UMass' lone run came on a Mike Kulak (Bristol, Conn.) single down the left field line, scoring Gavin Clark (Springfield, Mass.) from second. Senior Travis Veracka (Stow, Mass.) took the loss on the mound, giving up one earned run on eight hits while pitching his eighth consecutive complete game for the Minutemen.
In the nightcap, the Minutemen scored a run in all but one inning, cruising to an 8-4 win behind junior Craig Szado (Monson, Mass.). The Minutemen used three hits and a walk in the bottom of the first, grabbing a 2-0 lead after one inning. With one out in the third, Gorneault drove a fastball over the left-center fence for his eighth homer of the season, giving UMass a 3-1 lead at that point.
UMass went on to score one in the fourth inning and two each in the fifth and sixth, finishing with an 8-4 win. Szado allowed four earned runs on nine hits, going the distance for his third complete game of the season. Mike Minerva took the loss for the Hawks, allowing five runs on eight hits through four innings of work.
The Minutemen and the Hawks will square off again tomorrow in the final regular season game for the Minutemen. With a win tomorrow. The Minutemen are still in the race for the final playoff spot in the East division. If UMass wins tomorrow, Temple needs a three-game sweep of Rhode Island this weekend to lock up the final spot in the Tournament. If the Minutemen lose tomorrow's game, Temple will need to take two from URI to capture the second-place spot in the East.
