University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Dayton
Franczek's Two Home Runs Lift UMass Over Dayton
April 27, 2007 | Baseball
April 27, 2007
DAYTON, Ohio- Ryan Franczek (Chicopee, Mass.) slugged two home runs to propel the UMass Minutemen (13-18, 7-9) over the Dayton Flyers (17-23, 6-10) in the opener of a three-game series. The Minuteman offense was firing on all cylinders, pounding Dayton's pitcher for 12 runs on 14 hits. Sophomore Adam Tempesta (Brockton, Mass.) was hit by a pitch in the first inning, putting him on base for the 30th straight game. Senior Chris Lloyd (North Adams, Mass.) picked up the win to improve to 4-3.
Franczek's homers were his first of the season and the seventh and eighth of his career at UMass. Friday's game also marked the second time in his career that he belted two roundtrippers. The other instance came on May 20, 2006 against Rhode Island. The first home run opened the UMass scoring in the second inning on a solo shot to lead off the inning. The second came in the ninth inning with Bryan Adamski (North Adams, Mass.) on base. Franczek also singled and stole a base in the fifth inning.
Five other Minutemen batters had multi-hit games. Senior Lou Proietti (Hamilton, Ont.) had two singles and three RBI, as well as two stolen bases. Centerfielder Bill Rankin (Willington, Conn.) continued his hot streak by knocking four singles in five at bats and scoring each time he was on base. The senior also stole his third base of the week. Other offensive highlights for UMass include Adamski hitting two singles, scoring twice and stealing a base once. Senior Travis Munsey (Durham, N.H.) collected two hits, drove in three runs and scored a run from the number nine spot in the lineup.
UMass fell behind early as Dayton put a run on the board in the first inning, but UMass responded quickly in the top of the second. After Franczek's homer, the Maroon and White scored two runs when Rankin crossed the plate on a Munsey double. Munsey then scored from second when the following batter, Proietti, singled him home to give the Minutemen their first lead of the game.
The Minutemen never looked back scoring runs in each remaining inning except the fourth and seventh. Dayton narrowed the lead to three in the bottom of the seventh but UMass distanced themselves with one run in the eighth and four in the ninth to put the game to rest. Of the 14 Minutemen hits, 11 were singles with Munsey's double and Franczek's home runs the only extra base hits. UMass' cause was helped by five errors from a sloppy Flyer defense.
After yielding an early run, Lloyd settled into a groove and allowed only four harmless Dayton hits until the seventh inning. Coming on for his seventh inning of work, he allowed the first three batters he face to score on consecutive walks followed by a two-run triple. Lloyd issued another walk before Mitchell Eilenberg (Brooklyn, N.Y.) came on in relief. The sophomore right-hander did not allow a run over the three innings he worked to earn the rare three-inning save.
UMass and Dayton will take the field again on Saturday at 1 p.m. Fans can follow the action on Gametracker via UMassAthletics.com
