Minutemen Host Xavier In Key A-10 Series

April 21, 2011

AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass baseball team returns home this weekend for an important Atlantic 10 series as the squad will play host to Xavier at Earl Lorden Field. Due to rain in the forecast for Saturday, the Minutemen and Musketeers will play a doubleheader on Friday, Apr. 22, beginning at 1 p.m., before closing out the series on Sunday, Apr. 24, with a noon contest.

On The Mound

Game 1: Glen Misho (5-1, 4.22 ERA) vs. Tyler Koors (3-3, 5.44 ERA)

Game 2: Robert Machado (2-4, 4.64 ERA) vs. Jon Richard (2-3, 3.40 ERA)

Game 3: Dennis Torres (2-2, 4.99 ERA) vs. Vinny Nittoli (4-1, 4.69 ERA)

Weekend Forecast

Scouting Xavier

The Musketeers enter the weekend with a record of 18-18 on the season but have lost nine of their last 11 games and are 4-11 on the road.

Ben Thomas leads Xavier with a .412 batting average, 11 home runs, 37 RBI, nine doubles and 26 runs scored. Thomas boasts an A-10 leading 98 total bases and has a .748 slugging percentage.

John McCambridge follows, hitting .359 and has scored a team-best 39 runs.

The Musketeers pitching staff holds a 5.01 earned run average in 319.2 innings of work with 129 walks and 231 strikeouts. Reliever Markus Kuyendoll has the top ERA, 2.93 in a team-high 21 appearances to go along with 32 strikeouts.

UMass is 12-11 all-time against Xavier since first facing the Musketeers in 1996, but has lost six straight in the series. The last time the Minutemen defeated Xavier was on Mar. 29, 2008, in Amherst.

Conference Pitching Kind To UMass Bats

Heading into its fourth conference series of the season, the Minutemen are batting .340 in conference play, second in the A-10 to only Dayton. UMass has scored 86 runs in nine games and has 11 home runs, tied for second in the league. Seven Minutemen are batting .350 or better in A-10 play.

Individually, senior Peter Copa is tied for first in RBI (14), and is tied for second in batting average (.486), runs scored (14), and total bases (30).

Matt Gedman is ninth in batting average (.415) in conference play and is tied for second in home runs (4), total bases (30) and tied for third in runs scored.

Offensive Explosion

On Apr. 17 in Ambler, the Minutemen scored 25 runs on 24 hits to take down Temple, the most runs a UMass team has ever scored in an Atlantic 10 game.

The Minutemen surpassed the previous mark of 24 at Richmond on March 22, 2009.

All nine members of UMass' lineup tallied multiple hits in the contest against the Owls and each scored at least one run with eight driving in two or more.

Gedman And Copa Among A-10's Most Dangerous Hitters

Through 28 games, senior Matt Gedman is currently leading the Atlantic 10 with a .451 batting average and was ranked fourth in the country in the latest NCAA statistics report.

Senior Peter Copa boasts a team-leading 21 walks, contributing to his A-10-leading .512 on base percentage. He was 15th in the country in the latest NCAA statistics report in on base percentage. Gedman ranks second with the conference with a .481 on base percentage.

Copa and Gedman rank No. 2 and No. 3 in the Atlantic 10 in slugging percentage at .680 and .656, respectively. Copa has eight of the team's 18 home runs, along with one triple and five doubles. Gedman has seven doubles, three triples and four homers to his credit. Copa was 20th in the country for slugging in the latest NCAA rankings.

Situationally, Gedman is hitting a blistering .467 (28-for-60) with runners on base and .469 (23-for-49) with two outs.

With 18 multi-hit games and nine multi-RBI games, Gedman paces UMass in both categories. He posted a career high with five base knocks against Indiana and then once again went 5-for-6 at Hartford.

Copa leads the Minutemen in RBI (30) and Gedman follows with 26. Gedman has scored a team-high 29 runs, while Copa is second with 27.

Both Gedman and Copa have extremely high OPS numbers at 1.137 and 1.192 respectively.

Hitters Comfortable At Home

Through the first four games of the Minutemen's home schedule, the squad is batting .329 (47-for-143) at Earl Lorden Field with eight players boasting averages of .333 or higher.

Topping that list is senior Peter Copa who hit .667 (8-for-12) against Dayton with seven RBI and four runs scored.

In 17 games at home last season, UMass posted a .353 batting average.

What A Way To Begin An A-10 Career

In Atlantic 10 play, freshman Dylan Begin is hitting .406 to rank third on the team and 11th in the conference.

He is 13-for-32 at the plate and holds a .472 on base percentage with an active seven game hitting streak in A-10 contests.

Making The Most Of Opportunities

Despite tallying 44 less hits than its opponents, UMass has scored just one fewer run. Contributing to the Minutemen's scoring production are 116 walks and 55 sacrifices (18 sac flies, 37 sac hits).

With the bases loaded, UMass is hitting .406 (13-for-32), compared to a .270 (10-for-37) clip by its opponents.

Leaving The Yard

UMass brought 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 enter this weekend's action tied for third in the Atlantic 10 with 18 home runs, despite having played the least amount of games to date out of all but one other A-10 team (St. Bonaventure). In the latest NCAA statistics report, UMass ranked 56th in the country in home runs per-game.

Multner is the active career leader with 23 round trippers. 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 Chris Morgan (1999-2003) for seventh and needs one to match Pete Gautreau (1995-98) for sixth.

Copa hit UMass' first home run of 2011 on Mar. 5 at Sam Houston State and currently leads the squad with eight on the season, tied for second in the Atlantic 10 and is 20th in the country in home runs per-game. He hit long balls in three consecutive games, vs. Navy, Army and Indiana at the RussMatt Invitational. He now has 21 for his career with the Minutemen.

Gedman had his first career multi-homer game with two against George Washington in game one of the teams' doubleheader on Mar. 26. He is tied for second in conference play with four home runs in A-10 games.

Quick Minutemen

After finishing 27-for-40 on stolen base attempts in 46 games in 2010, UMass has already swiped 27 bags in 43 attempts through 30 games this season.

Peter Copa leads the squad with a perfect 10-for-10 on the base paths in 28 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 have assembled 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. He struck out a season-high four batters at Connecticut on Apr. 6 and made his first career start on Apr. 12 at Siena.

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 four saves on the year and is now tied for third on the program's career list with nine. He is one away from matching the school record, currently held by Mitchell Eilenberg (2006-09) and Scott Ratliff (2002-04).

In a team-high 13 appearances on the season, Soreson holds a 2.96 ERA over 24.1 innings and 19 strikeouts. As a reliever, his ERA stands at 1.83 in 19.2 innings of work with 17 strikeouts.

In Atlantic 10 play, Sorenson has not yet allowed an earned run in six appearances, a total of 11.2 innings. He has given up five unearned and a total of seven hits in that span with nine strikeouts, one walk and an opponent batting average of .167.

Sorenson's 0.00 ERA in conference play ranks tied for first among all A-10 pitchers. Overall, he is tied for fourth in saves with four.

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.

On Mar. 29 at Holy Cross, freshman Alex Tuneski recorded his first collegiate hit and classmate Rob McLam appeared in his first career game.

McLam collected his first career RBI and run scored at Hartford on Mar. 31 and tallied his first collegiate hit against Albany on Apr. 2. Tuneski picked up his first RBI at Hartford, as well.

Hitting Streaks

Matt Gedman holds the longest active hitting streak in the Atlantic 10, now at 17 straight games, and is the fourth longest in the conference this season. Gedman's streak is a new career high, surpassing his 14 game streak last year.

Gedman's 17 game hit streak is the longest by a UMass player in the last decade. Aaron Senez hit safely in 20 straight games in 2001. The program record is 31 games, set by Muchie Dagliere from March 6, 1998 to April 25, 1998.

Senior Kyle Multner had an eight-game hitting streak spanning from Mar. 18 to Apr. 2. He registered a career-long 14 game hitting streak as a freshman in 2008.

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.

Eric Fredette recorded the team's longest hitting streak of 2010 at 16 games. Fredette's season long hitting streak thus far was six games.

Behind Gedman, sophomore Rich Graef has the second longest active streak, currently at six games. Also with streaks of six plus this season, sophomore Anthony Serino (seven games) and Dylan Begin (seven games)

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 will face Northeastern the consolation round of the Beanpot on Tuesday, Apr. 26, at Fenway Park.

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University of Massachusets Athletics

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