March 22, 2011
AMHERST, Mass. -
Currently riding a three-game winning streak, the UMass baseball team will open conference play this weekend when the squad travels to George Washington for its first Atlantic 10 series of the season, Friday through Sunday, Mar. 25-27, in Alexandria, Va. The Minutemen, who closed out their Spring Break trip to the RussMatt Invitational last week with wins over Bucknell, Northwestern, and UMBC, will begin their series against the Colonials at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Weekend Schedule and Pitching Matchups
Game 1: RHP Glen Misho (2-1, 3.86 ERA) vs. LHP Brian Derner (1-2, 4.26 ERA) - GameTracker
Game 2: RHP Robert Machado (1-2, 5.00 ERA) vs. LHP Bobby Lucas (1-3, 6.20 ERA) - GameTracker
Game 3: RHP Dennis Torres (1-1, 1.93 ERA) vs. TBA - GameTracker
Scouting George Washington
George Washington enters the weekend series against UMass with a record of 6-15 and is looking to snap a six-game skid. The Colonials have posted wins over Georgia Southern (8-6), Maryland Eastern Shore (8-0), UMBC (6-2), Central Connecticut (5-2 & 8-5) and Binghamton (8-5).
Junior outfielder Stephen Oswald leads the team with a .346 batting average and 13 runs scored and has totaled four doubles, one home run and eight RBI. Junior infielder Brett Bowers is close behind with a .344 batting average with four doubles, a home run, and 12 RBI. Owen Beightol (.307) has driven in a team-high 14 runs.
As a team, George Washington has scored 94 runs in 21 games (4.5 per-contest) and is batting .258.
The Colonials hold a 6.51 team earned run average with 152 strikeouts to 97 walks. Brian Derner is the squad's top starter with a 4.26 ERA. He is 1-2 in five starts for a total of 25.1 innings. Senior right-hander Tommy Gately boasts a team-best 34 strikeouts in 33.1 innings pitched.
The Minutemen lead the all-time series against George Washington, 19-14, and has won the last two three-game series against the Colonials, 2-1.
Quick Minutemen
After finishing 27-for-40 on stolen base attempts in 46 games in 2010, UMass has already swiped 17 bags in 23 attempts through 12 games this season.
Peter Copa leads the squad with a perfect 6-for-6 on the base paths in 12 games, a career high, and stole three against UMBC alone. Ryan Cusick led last year's squad with an 8-for-10 clip.
UMass had seven stolen bases in its 9-5 victory over UMBC, the highest total since the squad stole eight vs. Hartford on Mar. 26, 2008.
Gedman Collects Weekly Award
Senior infielder Matt Gedman was selected as the UMass Athlete of the Week this past Monday after helping the Minutemen to a 3-3 week at the RussMatt Invitational in Winter Haven, Fla.
Over six games, Gedman batted .500, going 15-for-30, with four multi-hit games, eight RBI, five runs scored and three doubles.
In a one-run loss to Indiana, Gedman registered a career-high five hits, going 5-for-6 at the plate with three RBI. Against Northwestern, the second of three straight victories for the Minutemen, Gedman hit 4-for-5 with a double, two RBI, and a run scored. He capped off the week by going 2-for-4 in a 9-5 win over UMBC, scoring once and driving in a run.
Misho Honored By A-10
Junior right-hander Glen Misho was named co-Atlantic 10 pitcher of the week on Mar. 14, his first career honor and first for a member of the Minutemen this season.
To open up UMass' trip to the RussMatt Invitational, Misho tossed his first career complete game, pitching the Minutemen to a 2-1 victory over Toledo, the squad's first win of the year.
Misho scattered eight hits and allowed just one run while recording eight strikeouts to two walks. Out of his 111 pitches in the contest, 76 were thrown for strikes.
Leading The Way
Senior co-captain Eric Fredette is the team's top returning hitter after posting a .384 average at the plate last season on his way to Atlantic 10 Second Team honors.
Fredette racked up 71 hits in 2010, which tied for ninth all-time in program history for a single season. He finished his junior campaign with a team-best 22 multi-hit games.
In his first season at UMass after transferring from Vermont, the second baseman played and started 45 of the squad's 46 games and totaled 32 runs scored, 11 doubles, one triple, four home runs and 31 RBI. His team-best 19 walks helped him boast a .443 on-base percentage, while he led the squad with 10 sacrifices, as well.
Fredette registered a team-high 22 multi-hit games on the year in 2010 and hit safely in 40 of the 45 contests he appeared in, reaching base in all but one.
Young Arms
After losing two weekend starters from last season's rotation to graduation (Bryan Leigh and Jared Freni) and another to the professional ranks (Nick Serino), the Minutemen will be assembling a brand new starting rotation in 2011.
Senior Charlie Benson was the most tenured member of the UMass pitching staff coming into 2011 with 61.2 career innings pitched.
Out of UMass' 12 hurlers, six are from the freshman and sophomore classes.
Junior Leif Sorenson posted a team-leading 3.94 ERA last year in 19 appearances, including one start. Sorenson worked 29.2 innings in 2010, the most among the returning Minutemen. He registered five saves on the season, tying him for fourth all-time on the UMass single season saves list.
Three Minutemen made their first collegiate appearances at the Bearkat Invitational. Freshman Ryan Lubreski threw 1.2 shutout innings against Michigan and struck out two in his debut. Sophomore Dennis Torres gave up just one earned run in 4.0 innings on the hill and fanned four against Sam Houston State on Mar. 5. Freshman Aaron Plunkett made his first appearance on Mar. 20 against UMBC.
Youth Movement
The Minutemen are a young bunch in 2011 as 13 of the 31 players on the roster are freshmen. Making up the rest of the squad are five sophomores, seven juniors and six seniors.
Three newcomers have joined the Minutemen out of the same high school, Essex in Essex Junction, Vt. Dylan Begin, Adam Picard and Aaron Plunkett helped the Hornets win state titles in 2008 and 2010. Picard was named the Vermont Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior.
Career Firsts
Ten Minutemen made their collegiate debuts at the Bearkat invitational on opening weekend of 2011.
On Friday, Mar. 4, vs. Michigan, sophomore Anthony Serino and freshmen Dylan Begin and Josh Messier tallied their first collegiate hits with Serino picking up his first career RBI, as well.
Freshman Nik Campero had his first hit against the Wolverines on Mar. 5, while Begin drove in a run in that contest, his first RBI.
Freshmen Kyle Adie and Adam Picard notched their first hits as Minutemen in back-to-back games against Sam Houston State on Mar. 5 and 6, respectively.
Begin hit his first career home run on Mar. 20 against UMBC, while Adie had his first career multi-hit game, going 3-for-4 against Northwestern on Mar. 18.
Hitting Streaks
Senior Peter Copa ended 2010 with a six game hitting streak and hit safely in the first three contests to start 2011 to extend the streak to a career-best nine games. Copa holds the longest streak of the 2011 campaign, tallying hits in six straight contests from 3/13 to 3/19.
Senior Eric Fredette holds the team's longest active streak, currently at four games. Senior Kyle Multner carries a three-game streak into Wednesday's contest at Hartford.
Fredette recorded the team's longest hitting streak of 2010 at 16 games. Matt Gedman hit safely in 14 straight last season.
Hitting It Out
UMass brings back two of its three home run leaders from last season in seniors Peter Copa and co-captain Kyle Multner who tied 2010 graduate Mike Gedman with a squad-best eight home runs last spring. Matt Gedman (6), Tom Conley (5) and Eric Fredette (4) also contributed to the Minutemen's total of 51 homers in 2010.
Multner is the active career leader with 21 home runs and is also the active leader in career hits (130).
With his first home run of the season, coming on Mar. 19 vs. Northwestern, Multner broke into the program's top-10 all-time for career homers, tying Steve Allen (1985-88) and Doug Clark (1996-98) for 10th. He needs one more to equal Stephen Kern (1986-89) and Jason Twomley (2002-05) for eighth.
Copa hit UMass' first home run of 2011 on Mar. 5 at Sam Houston State and currently leads the squad with four on the season. He is tied for first in the Atlantic 10, as well, and hit long balls in three consecutive games, vs. Navy, Army and Indiana at the RussMatt Invitational. He now has 17 for his career with the Minutemen.
Franczek Returns To Alma Mater
Former Minuteman third baseman Ryan Franczek returned to his alma mater this offseason and is in his first year on the UMass coaching staff this spring.
Franczek, who played at UMass from 2005-08, was a .286 career hitter (155-for-579), totaling 34 doubles, seven triples 12 home runs, 73 RBI and 155 runs scored. He appeared in 164 career games, which ranks ninth all-time, starting 152. His career walks total (77) is presently tied for 10th all-time at UMass.
Franczek's best campaign with the Minutemen was in 2006 when he saw action in 42 games as a sophomore, hit .307, drove in 27 runs and scored 33. He was awarded The E. Joseph Thompson Memorial MVP Trophy that season. Franczek had four triples in 2006, tying him currently for ninth in the UMass record book for a single season and also ranks tied for sixth in a season with 10 hit by pitches that year.
Up Next
The Minutemen will play at Holy Cross next Tuesday, Mar. 29, at 3 p.m. 
