April 7, 2011
AMHERST, Mass. -
The UMass baseball team will open the home portion of its schedule this weekend as the squad will face Dayton in its second Atlantic 10 series of the season. Beginning on Friday, Apr. 8, at 3 p.m., the Minutemen (8-12, 2-1 A-10) will play its first of three against the Flyers (14-15, 2-1 A-10), followed by contests on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 11 a.m., respectively.
On The Mound
Game 1 (Friday, 4/8, 3 p.m.): RHP Glen Misho (3-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. LHP Cameron Hobson (4-2, 2.44 ERA)
Game 2 (Saturday, 4/9, 1 p.m.): RHP Dennis Torres (2-2, 2.91 ERA) vs. RHP Burny Mitchem (1-2, 1.67 ERA)
Game 3 (Sunday, 4/10, 11 a.m.): RHP Robert Machado (2-3, 4.20 ERA) vs. RHP Tim Bury (0-2, 3.38 ERA) or RHP Mike Hauschild (5-3, 4.56 ERA)
Scouting Dayton
Dayton is entering the weekend series with a 14-15 record, 2-1 in the Atlantic 10. The Flyers will be looking to end a two-game losing streak after falling to Temple (17-11) and most recently, Toledo (7-4).
Dayton is currently batting .279 as a team and has 48 stolen bases to its credit.
Junior infielder, C.J. Gillman leads the squad with a .359 batting average over the course of 29 games. Gillman also paces the team in doubles, currently with 11, and stolen bases, swiping 11 bags in 13 attempts.
The Flyers' pitching staff has shown great command racking up just 61 walks and collecting 223 strikeouts on the season with a 4.02 earned run average.
The Dayton staff features pair of junior starters who have enjoyed success this season. Right-hander, Burny Mitchem has an earned run average of 1.67 in 12 appearances, totaling 33 strikeouts while walking only eight. Left-hander Cameron Hobson has an earned run average of 2.44 on the season in eight appearances and boasts 59 strikeouts to just nine walks.
UMass historically has had success against Dayton with a 13-10 record since the series began in 1997. Last year on the road the Minutemen took the three-game set against the Flyers, 2-1, with an 18-12 victory and a 10-2 triumph. UMass is 4-5 against Dayton all-time at Earl Lorden Field.
Gedman's Average Among Nation's Best
Through 20 games, senior Matt Gedman is currently leading the Atlantic 10 with a .455 batting average and is second in the conference in slugging percentage (.649) and fourth in on base percentage (.482).
Gedman has gone 35-for-77 and leads the team with 16 RBI, while standing second in runs scored (16). He has five doubles, two triples and two home runs to his credit, as well.
Situationally, Gedman is hitting a blistering .568 (21-for-37) with runners on base and .469 (15-for-32) with two outs.
With 10 multi-hit games and six 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.
Making The Most Of Opportunities
Despite tallying 53 less hits than its opponent, UMass has scored just 11 fewer runs. Contributing to the Minutemen's scoring production are 83 walks and 33 sacrifices.
With the bases loaded, UMass is hitting .417 (10-for-24), compared to a .192 (5-for-26) clip by its opponents.
Leading the way for the Minutemen with 18 walks, contributing to a .489 on-base percentage is senior Peter Copa. Copa ranks third in the A-10 in on-base percentage and has an OPS of 1.065. Matt Gedman's OPS is 1.131.
Quick Minutemen
After finishing 27-for-40 on stolen base attempts in 46 games in 2010, UMass has already swiped 22 bags in 31 attempts through 20 games this season.
Peter Copa leads the squad with a perfect 9-for-9 on the base paths in 19 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.
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 seven appearances on the season, Soreson holds a 4.80 ERA over 15 innings and 12 strikeouts. As a reliever, his ERA stands at 3.48 in 10.1 innings of work with 10 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.
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
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.
Senior Kyle Multner logged the team's longest hitting streak of the season thus far, spanning eight games from Mar. 18 to Apr. 2. He had a career-long 14 game hitting streak as a freshman in 2008.
Matt Gedman holds the longest active hitting streak for UMass, now at seven straight games.
Eric Fredette recorded the team's longest hitting streak of 2010 at 16 games. Gedman hit safely in 14 straight last season. Fredette's season long hitting streak thus far was six games.
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 entered this week's action third in the Atlantic 10 in home runs per-game and are tied for third overall with 12, despite having played the least amount of games to date. In the latest NCAA statistics report, UMass ranked 63rd in the country in home runs.
Multner is the active career leader with 22 homers and is also the active leader in career hits (137), tied with Gedman. 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 five on the season. He is 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 18 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.
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 travel to Siena on Tuesday, Apr. 12, before playing host to Boston College on Wednesday, Apr. 13. 
