University of Massachusets Athletics
Four Baseball Players Earn Atlantic 10 All-Conference Honors
May 16, 2001 | Baseball
May 16, 2001
AMHERST, Mass. -- University of Massachusetts senior outfielder Gavin Clark (Springfield, Mass.), senior designated hitter Nick Gorneault (Springfield, Mass.), sophomore first baseman Jeff Altieri (Whitinsville, Mass.) and junior outfielder Mike Kulak (Bristol, Conn.) were named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference teams. Clark and Gorneault were named to the first team, while Altieri and Kulak earned a spot on the second team.
Clark is tied for the team lead in home runs with 12 and has driven in 36 runs in 141 at bats. In addition Clark is batting .340 on the season, after entering 2001 hitting at a .270 clip. For the year, Clark also has a .667 slugging percentage, a .444 on-base percentage and nine stolen bases. This season he has emerged as a power source for the Minutemen as he had only three home runs and 32 RBI in 233 career at bats.
Gorneault, who has hit third in the batting order for UMass for most of the season, has been one of the top offensive threats in the A-10. Gorneault leads the team with a .386 batting average, is tied for the team lead in home runs with 12, and ranks second on the squad in runs batted in with 39. He has a .703 slugging percentage, to go along with a .450 on-base percentage. With his 12 home runs this season, Gorneault became only the third player in school history to reach double-figures in homers in back-to-back seasons (he hit 10 homers in 2000). Gorneault now has 26 home runs during his collegiate career, to rank fifth all-time at UMass.
Altieri has batted in the cleanup spot for the Minutemen all season. Altieri, who had a 12-game hitting streak earlier in the season, has hit safely in 32 of 43 games this season. He recorded a career-best six runs batted in against Fairfield on Apr. 3, and has four hits in a game twice this season. Altieri also tied his career high with two home runs against Hartford on May 3. For the year, Altieri leads the team with 42 runs batted in, while ranking third in both batting average with a .350 mark, and home runs with eight.
Kulak has been one of UMass' top hitters during the second half of the season. Kulak recently had a 16 game hitting streak from Apr. 20-May 12, during which he went 29 for 64 (.453) with four home runs and 28 runs batted in. He was hitting .242 through games of Apr. 13, but has raised his average over 100 points to .353 with his recent hot streak. Kulak also has four home runs, 35 RBI, 12 stolen bases and nine sacrifice bunts on the year, while playing error-free ball in the outfield. For his career, Kulak has a .352 batting average to rank seventh all-time at UMass.
The Minutemen won the A-10 regular season championship and are currently 26-17 overall and 16-6 in the A-10. UMass finished one game ahead of Temple and Dayton with identical 15-7 league marks. The Minutemen return to action on Thursday, May 17, when they face No. 4 seed George Washington at 4:00 p.m. in the opening round of the Verizon Atlantic 10 Championship, to be held at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. No. 2 seed Dayton will take on No. 3 seed Temple in the second game of the double-elimination tournament at 7:30 p.m.
