University of Massachusets Athletics

Baseball At Holy Cross On Tuesday

March 28, 2011 | Baseball

March 28, 2011

AMHERST, Mass. - Having won five of its past six, including taking its first Atlantic 10 series of the season this past weekend, the UMass baseball team will play its first of four games this week when the squad heads to Holy Cross on Tuesday, Mar. 29, for a 4 p.m. contest. The Minutemen are currently 6-9 entering the match up at Fitton Field, while the Crusaders are 10-10-1, including 3-1 at home.

On The Mound

  • RHP Ryan Lubreski (0-0, 4.91 ERA) vs. RHP Tommy Marra (0-1, 14.11 ERA)

    Scouting Holy Cross

  • The Crusaders are 10-10-1 entering Tuesday's contest. Most recently, Holy Cross split with Columbia on Mar. 27, winning 3-2 and falling 7-3.
  • Senior outfielder Jack Laurendeu leads the team with a .355 batting average and has scored a squad-best 21 runs, to go along with 27 hits (five doubles, two triples), 15 RBI, and is 10-for-11 on the base paths.
  • Nick Ciardiello leads the team with 28 hits and 22 RBI. The senior outfielder has two home runs and nine doubles.
  • As a staff, the Crusaders hold a 6.20 ERA through 183.0 innings with 128 strikeouts to 99 walks. Andrew Boyce is the squad's top reliever with a 1.23 ERA in 14.2 innings on the hill, 10 strikeouts and eight walks.
  • UMass leads the all-time series vs. Holy Cross with a record of 38-27-1. Last year the Minutemen defeated the Crusaders, 12-10. Matt Gedman's two-out three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth propelled UMass to the come-from-behind win.

    Gedman In The A-10

  • Through 15 games, senior Matt Gedman is currently leading the Minutemen with a .421 batting average as he has tallied 24 hits in 57 at bats and has registered a team-best 11 RBI, while also scoring nine runs.
  • Gedman enters the week second in the Atlantic 10 in batting average and his career-best five-hit day against Indiana is tied for the most individual hits in a single game this season by an A-10 player.

    Quick Minutemen

  • After finishing 27-for-40 on stolen base attempts in 46 games in 2010, UMass has already swiped 20 bags in 26 attempts through 15 games this season.
  • Peter Copa leads the squad with a perfect 8-for-8 on the base paths in 15 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, Mar. 21, 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.
  • 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.

    Welcome Re-Leif

  • 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.
  • Sorenson currently has three saves on the year and is now tied for fourth on the program's career list with eight. He is one shy of equaling Bryan Adamski (2005-07) for third and is two away from matching the program record.
  • In five appearances on the season, Soreson holds a 4.26 ERA over 12.2 innings and nine strikeouts. As a reliever, his ERA stands at 2.25 in eight innings of work with seven strikeouts.
  • Through the first weekend of Atlantic 10 action, Sorenson holds a 0.00 ERA in conference play with two saves and has allowed just one hit with no walks in 3.2 innings on the hill.

    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.
  • At George Washington, Messier began the series with his first career multi-RBI game and had his first career multi-hit game in the series finale, driving in three runs against the Colonials.
  • Serino ripped his first career home run in a pinch hit at bat of UMass' 6-3 victory over George Washington on Mar. 26.

    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, along with classmates Eric Fredette and Kyle Multner, have all posted the longest streaks of the 2011 campaigns, six games.
  • Multner holds the longest active streak, currently hitting safely in six straight, beginning with a 2-for-3 performance against Bucknell on Mar. 18.
  • Fredette recorded the team's longest hitting streak of 2010 at 16 games. Matt Gedman hit safely in 14 straight last season.

    Leaving The Yard

  • 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.
  • The Minutemen are currently second in the Atlantic 10 in home runs per-game with 11 in 15 contests (.73 per-game) and are tied for third overall, dispite having played the least amount of games to date.
  • Multner is the active career leader with 22 home runs and is also the active leader in career hits (135). 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 is now tied with Stephen Kern (1986-89) and Jason Twomley (2002-05) for eighth and needs one to match Chris Morgan (1999-2003).
  • 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 third 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.
  • Matt Gedman had his first career multi-homer game with two against George Washington in game one of the teams' doubleheader on Mar. 26.

    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

  • UMass next travels to Hartford on Thursday, Mar. 31, for a 3 p.m. contest.
  • UMass Base | Highlights vs Siena | 04.30.25
    Wednesday, April 30
    UMass Baseball vs. George Washington | Broadcast Highlights | 04.27.25
    Monday, April 28
    UMass Baseball vs. George Mason | Broadcast Highlights | Game 2 04.19.25
    Saturday, April 19
    UMass Baseball vs. URI | Broadcast Highlights | Doubleheader Game 1 | 3.28.25
    Friday, March 28