University of Massachusets Athletics
Minutemen Open Three Game Series With Rhode Island
May 13, 2005 | Baseball
May 13, 2005
Minutemen Open Up Three Game Series With Rams Of Rhode Island.
• The Minutemen will host Rhode Island for a three game series begining Saturday at 12:00 PM. The Rams enter the weekend winning 21 of their last 23 games. Sunday's game will be broadcasted nationally by CSTV and will air Monday at 7 PM. UMass' own Bob Behler will be providing the play by play with Derek Volner providing color comentary. Check your local cable listings for availability
UMass Closes Out Seven Game Road Trip
• The Minutemen return to the friendly confines of Earl Lorden Field after seven straight road games. This past week UMass split its two games defeating Maine 15-8 on Tuesday while falling to Central Conn. State on Wednesday 13-9.
The Series With Rhode Island
• Last season the Minutemen finished 1-2 against the Rams. After dropping the first two games of the series, the Minutemen won the third game by the score of 5-3. UMass owns a 96-51 advantage in the series against Rhode Island.
The Last Meeting
• On May 2, senior Keith Dohrety pitched a complete game for the Minutemen. Dohrety scattered six hits and allowed just three runs while striking out a career high 10 batters. The win snapped a nine game losing streak for UMass.
Minutemen In the Ranks
• Several Minutemen are atop the Atlantic 10 leaders. Junior Matt Torra is leads the conference in strikeouts (88), opposing batting average (.175), and ERA (1.12), and is third in innings pitched (80.2).
• Senior Jason Twomley leads the conference in slugging (.765), on-base percentage (.490), and OPS (1.255) is second in home runs (14), fourth in walks (26), and fifth in runs (39).
Top Five Tidbits
• UMass' series defeat over Temple was the first since last season, when it swept Owls
• The Minutemen are 7-3 when leading after seven innings but just 1-25 when trailing after seven.
• Matt Torra has 204 career strikeouts placing him fourth in UMass Baseball history
• Curt Szado is 19 of his last 48 over a 12 game stretch. During this hot streak he's hit two home runs, four doubles and driven in 17 runs.
• Minutemen batters have an OBP of .340 when leading off the inning. Opponets are reaching base at a .432 clip when leading off.
Chasing history
• Senior Jason Twomley, despite missing eight games, has 14 home runs, which places him tied for second all-time for a single season. Aaron Braunstein hit 14 in 1997 while Bill Knight smashed 19 in 1995.
• On April 12, Twomley set the single-game record for walks with five against UConn. He topped David Giglio's mark in 1997 when he walked four times against Siena.
• Twomley has provided most of the offensive output so far this season. He leads the team in every major offensive category, including average (.336), runs (43), hits (40), home runs (15), RBI (28), slugging percentage (.765), and on-base percentage (.490).
• Junior Matt Torra has been the spark on the Minutemen mound. He leads the team in ERA (1.13), wins (4), complete games (6), innings pitched (79.2), strikeouts (87), and opponent batting average (.174). He has also only walked 13 batters.
• Torra's 87 strikeouts puts him 7th all-time in a single season, two behind both Ron Villone and Tom White.
• Torra has totaled 203 strikeouts so far in his three-year career, which already puts him fourth all-time in a career. Only four players have ever achieved 200+ strikeouts over their career at UMass. Tops of the list are former Major Leaguer Jeff Reardon and Carl Boteze, who both have 234 career punchouts.
• Torra also has started 31 games in his career, which ties him for sixth all-time. Bob Kostro started 39 games from 1983-1986 and is the all-time leader. Torra's 15 complete games puts him tied for eighth all-time with Travis Veracka. Doug Welenc holds that record with 24.
• Bill Rankin has sacrificed runners over 14 times this season, which ties for the most in a single season with Cullan Maumus who did it in 2003.
Torra Silences Opponents
• Junior Matt Torra has been red hot this season. In nine starts, Torra is 4-3 with a 1.12ERA. He has struck out 88 batters while walking 13 and opponents are hitting .175 against him. Torra was named Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week on March 13, May 2, and May 9. He was also named Co-UMass/Dinn Bros. Athlete of the Week on May 2.
• In all but one of his starts, Torra has thrown at least six innings. On Feb. 25 at New Orleans, he threw 7.0 and struck out 10, giving up no runs in a no decision. On March 5, Torra tossed eight innings and allowed two runs while striking out 14. On March 12 versus Eastern Kentucky, Torra threw a complete-game shutout, allowing four hits ans punching out seven. In his last start against Illinois State, he threw six and gave up one earned run in a losing effort. Against Duquesne on Saturday, he tossed 10.0 innings and gave up three runs. On Saturday against Saint Joseph's, Torra threw 10.2 innings and allowed just one earned run. He struck out a career-high 16 while allowing three hits. On April 23 at Fordham, Torra tossed a complete game four-hitter to pick up his second win of the season. On Sunday, Torra pitched another complete game, this time a two-hitter en route to his third win of the season. On May 7 at Temple, he threw a three-hit shutout for a 5-0 win.
