University of Massachusets Athletics
Baylark Named A-10 Offensive Player Of Week
October 22, 2006 | Football
Oct. 22, 2006
AMHERST, Mass. - Senior captain Steve Baylark earned his second A-10 Offensive Player of the Week honor, this season, on Sunday. Baylark piled up the 10th-best rushing day in UMass history with 235 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns. It was his first career 200-yard game and first by a UMass player since Kevin Quinlan had 241 vs. Northeastern on Oct. 7, 2000. Baylark's previous career-high was 198 vs. Maine on Oct. 22, 2005. Baylark went over the 100-yard mark with a career-long 58-yard rush early in the second quarter. UMass is now 17-3 in those games. It is the second time this year he set a new career-long rush. He had a 50-yarder vs. William & Mary on Oct. 7.
Baylark had two rushing touchdowns, from 2 and 8 yards. He now has 35 career rushing TDs to stand tied for third all-time at UMass with Garry Pearson. Baylark also now has 40 career total touchdowns, moving past Pearson into fourth all-time at UMass. He is also fourth in career points at UMass with 242, breaking his tie at 230 with Pearson. It was Baylark's 11th career two-touchdown game, UMass is now 10-1 in those games. Baylark also moved to second in career carries at UMass with his 26 totes in the URI game. He passed Rene Ingoglia (905) and now stands second to leader Marcel Shipp (1,215) with 913.
Baylark leads UMass into action next week at Northeastern with 892 rushing yards this season. He is just 108 yards short of becoming the third player in I-AA history with four 1,000-yard seasons. He would join New Hampshire's Jerry Azumah and Georgia Southern's Adrian Peterson.
With his big burst vs. Rhode Island, Baylark is now averaging 127.4 yards per game. That leads the A-10 and ranks seventh in the nation. He is also seventh in the nation in scoring with 9.43 points per game. He has 11 touchdowns in seven games.
