University of Massachusets Athletics
Baseball Opens Week Against Pair Of New England Foes
March 29, 2009 | Baseball
March 29, 2009
AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass baseball team will look to rebound from its three close setbacks at Fordham this weekend as the squad will take on New England foes Connecticut and Holy Cross this Monday and Tuesday, Mar. 30-31, at 3 p.m. Monday's game against the Huskies will be the 152nd all-time between the teams, with UConn holding a 77-71-3 advantage in the series. The Minutemen will then face the Crusaders for the 64th time and will attempt to build on its 37-26-1 all-time record versus Holy Cross.
Tempesta Climbing The Charts
• Senior Adam Tempesta is currently hitting .348 with nine runs scored, five doubles, one triple, three homeruns and 16 RBI in 16 games played.
• He is tied for the team lead in RBI and multiple-RBI games (4), and multiple-hit games (8). 

• The second baseman entered the season 10th all-time in career doubles and has now moved up to sixth with 40, one shy of Brian Samela for fifth (41) and 10 away from the school record. 

• He has also entered the program's top-10 lists for hits as he is currently seventh with 191 after passing Mike Kulak (1999-2002) at Fordham this weekend. Next up is Justin Howard's sixth-place total of 193.
• When Tempesta logs his 200th hit, he will be just the third player in school history to reach the plateau, joining Muchie Dagliere (257) and Bill Knight (203).
• Tempesta has recorded at least one base hit in 14 of 16 games that he has appeared in this season and hit in 14 of the 15 games he's started.
• Dating back to the end of last season, Tempesta posted hits in 10 straight contests after ending 2008 on a four-game hitting streak and opening this year hitting safely in six straight. The senior's career-high was an 11-game hitting streak as sophomore in 2007.
• Dating back to May 10, 2008, Tempesta has recorded at least one hit in 20 of the last 23 games he's played. He had an eight-game hitting streak snapped in the final game of the Minutemen's series at Fordham on Saturday, Mar. 28.
Close Quarters
• UMass has played six Atlantic 10 contests thus far and is 1-5, but has taken every game down to the wire.
• Five of the Minutemen's six A-10 games have been decided by one run, with three going into extra innings. The only exception was UMass' 24-9 triumph over Richmond.
• Overall, 10 of the Minutemen's 18 contests thus far have been one-run games. Thirteen of 18 outcomes have been determined by 2 runs or fewer.
Multner Comes Through In The Clutch
• Kyle Multner has made the most of his 11 hits on the season. The sophomore, who is batting just below .300 at .297, is hitting a team-best .455 with runners in scoring positions (11 AB), and a squad-leading .421 with runners on base (19 AB).
A New Face Behind The Mask In 2009
• UMass has a new face behind the plate this season as freshman Tom Conely has been a part of the Minutemen's battery in 17 of 18 games, making 16 starts.
• Conley paces the team in walks with 14 on the year and is second on the squad with a .429 on-base percentage, trailing only Brian Baudinet's .432 OBP.
• Conley currently holds the team's longest active hitting streak at five games, a season-high for the freshman.
Gedman Saves
• Junior Mike Gedman has been the go-to guy out of the bullpen for the Minutemen and has three saves in six appearances, which came in wins over Arizona (9-8), VCU (4-3) and Hartford (6-4).
• Gedman has faced 53 batters in 12 innings and has only given up five hits with seven walks and 12 strikeouts. He holds a 1.50 ERA and opponents are batting just .122 against him.
Juniors Stepping Up To The Plate
• Juniors Brian Baudinet and Mike Donato are both well on their way career-best seasons offensively.
• Baudinet belted his team-best seventh double of the season at Fordham over the weekend and already has surpassed his single season high for two-baggers (5) and has tallied at least one in five straight games from Mar. 20-27. He is also more than halfway to his career high for RBI as he has 12 in 18 games compared to 23 in 44 games last season.
• Donato has started all 18 games thus far and is hitting .333 (25-for-75) with 12 runs scored, six doubles and 12 RBI. His single-season bests heading into his junior campaign were 12 runs (2007), 31 hits (2008), eight doubles (2008) and 19 RBI (2008).
Smashing the Spiders
• UMass raced out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back, posting a 24-9 victory over Richmond at Pitt Field on Mar. 22. It marked the most runs ever scored by the Minutemen against an A-10 opponent. 

• The Minutemen pounded out 24 hits against the Spiders, two shy of the program's single game mark, including a school single game-record eight doubles. 

• Eleven different players tallied hits for UMass, led by junior Mike Donato's career-best 5-for-7 performance as he contributed four RBI and scored two.
Serino Stifles VCU
• Sophomore Nick Serino fanned a career-high 11 batters over six scoreless innings, helping UMass to a 4-3 victory over Virginia Commonwealth at The Diamond on Mar. 18.
• The Rams had won seven of their past nine games entering the contest. 

• Serino earned the victory, scattering three hits and walking five. He did not allow a hit until the fourth inning.
• His 11 strikeouts were the most by a Minuteman since Apr. 16, 2005, when Matt Torra fanned 16 batters in 10.2 innings against Saint Joseph's. 
 

• Serino's previous career high for strikeouts (7) came in a start at George Washington on Apr. 6, 2008. He worked 6.1 innings against the Colonials.
Team Triples
• UMass has six triples in 18 games, already surpassing the team total from last year. The Minutemen registered five three-baggers in 45 games in 2008. 
 

• Six triples is the highest total by a UMass squad since the team belted eight in 2006.
Stone's 600th
• With six wins on the season, UMass head coach Mike Stone is now just six victories away from his 600th overall as a head coach. Stone currently holds a 597-540-4 mark in 26+ seasons. He is 540-443-2 as the frontman for the Minutemen (21+ seasons).
Minutemen Post Big Win Out West
• The Minutemen never put down their bats as they scored in five of the nine innings to squeeze past the Arizona Wildcats on Mar. 7, marking the first time UMass had taken down a Pac-10 opponent since 1982 when the Minutemen defeated UCLA, 11-7. 
 

• Mitchell Clegg got the nod and the win for UMass as he struck out nine in his seven innings pitched, scattering five hits.
• In the top of the ninth, junior Mike Donato posted what would be the winning run for the UMass after launching the ball over the left field wall for his first homerun of the season.
Starting Off On A Good Note
• Sam Boone hit his first career home run on Feb. 27 in a 4-3 triumph over Northwestern, helping propel the Minutemen to their first victory in a season opener since 2004. Junior Mike Gedman hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning of a 3-3 game to bring in Mike Donato for what would be the winning run. Senior Mitchell Eilenberg earned the win on the mound, pitching 2.2 innings of relief. 
 

• UMass' 9-8 victory over Arizona on Mar. 7 brought the squad's record to 3-2, marking the best five-game start for the Minutemen since 2002 (3-2).
An Offensive Explosion
• UMass posted 25-4 triumph over Fairfield on Mar. 1, marking the most runs the squad has scored since the school record was set with 32 runs against another team from the Nutmeg State, Central Connecticut on April 20, 1993. 
 

• Against the Stags, the Minutemen pounded out 20 hits, including five doubles, two homeruns and a school-record four triples. The previous mark was three, set many times. 
 

• Sophomore Peter Copa paced the squad with a career-best six RBI and was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate. Senior Adam Tempesta and junior Brian Baudinet had four RBI apiece.
Next Up
• UMass will make its 2009 home debut with the first of three Atlantic 10 games against Temple this Friday, Apr. 3, at 3 p.m.