University of Massachusets Athletics
Baseball Opens Season This Weekend At #1 Arizona State
March 05, 2008 | Baseball
March 5, 2008
AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass baseball team will start its season with a bang, as they will take on the # 1 Arizona State Sun Devils in a three-game set beginning on Friday in Tempe, Ariz. Friday's game will begin at 9 p.m. eastern time, Saturday's game begins at 8 p.m., and first pitch on Sunday is slated for 4 p.m. Live audio will be available through the Sun Devil Sports Network for a $7.95 fee, while free live stats will also be available on Gametracker at UMassAthletics.com. So far this season, the Sun Devils are off to an 8-0 start, while outscoring their opponents by a margin of 85-17. Arizona State is holding the top spot in both the NCBWA and USA TODAY/ESPN polls.
The Minutemen are looking to improve on last season, where they finished with an overall record of 22-25, and a conference record of 13-14. After a slow start to the 2007 season, the Minutemen finished off strong, going 10-7 in their last 17 games. The Minutemen were picked to finish ninth in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll.
The Minutemen will be led by captains Adam Tempesta and Bryan Garrity. Tempesta led the club in 2007 with a .306 batting average, while adding 30 RBI. Garrity batted .240, scored 23 runs, and will be looked to to guide a young but talented pitching staff.
The Minutemen welcome 14 newcomers to the 2008 team, five of them being pitchers.
The Sun Devils are led by third basemen Brett Wallace and pitcher Josh Satow, both were named preseason first team All-Americans.
This is only the third meeting between the Minutemen and Sun Devils. Arizona State leads the all-time series, 2-0. The last meeting between these two teams was in 1973.
This weekend's series with the Sun Devils is just the beginning of UMass' season-starting 10 game road trip. Next weekend, the Minutemen will travel to Tampa, Florida to take on Army, and then finish off the road swing with a three-game series at Duquesne and one game at Connecticut.
