May 5, 2011
AMHERST, Mass. -
The UMass baseball team will travel to the Ocean State this weekend for an important three game Atlantic 10 series against rival Rhode Island, Friday through Sunday, May 6-8. Facing the Rams, who are currently second in the conference standings, the Minutemen enter Friday's 3:30 p.m. contest with a record of 15-23 overall and 6-9 in A-10 play.
On The Mound
Friday - 5/6: RHP Glen Misho (5-2, 4.87 ERA) vs. LHP Anthony Pisani (4-0, 2.52 ERA)
Saturday - 5/7: LHP Charlie Benson (2-2, 3.32 ERA) vs. RHP Ken Graveline (5-3, 3.54 ERA)
Sunday - 5/8: TBA vs. LHP Stephen Peterson (5-3, 3.34 ERA)
Scouting Rhode Island
Rhode Island enters the weekend with a record of 26-17 and is 12-6 in Atlantic 10 play, good for second in the conference. The Rams are coming off of a series sweep at home against Temple last weekend and are 10-4 in Kingston this season.
Kenny Burns paces URI's offense with a .407 batting average. Tom Coulombe has driven in a team-high 42 RBI and is 20-for-22 on the base paths. Jeff Cammans boasts the second-highest average on the squad at .368 and is tied with Mike LeBel with a team-high 40 runs scored. Kyle Borden is the top home run threat for the Rams with six on the year. Coulombe has 17 doubles.
As a staff, Rhode Island holds a 3.92 earned run average and boasts an opponent batting average of .258. The Rams have posted 297 strikeouts to 126 walks in 383.0 innings pitched.
In the most often played all-time series in UMass history, the Minutemen lead Rhode Island, 103-60 since the teams first met in 1906. UMass has won the past two conference series against the Rams, 2-1.
Gotta Have Hart
Junior Ben Hart has seen success in his new role as a starter in recent weeks, including his first career complete game, an 8-1 win over Quinnipiac this past Tuesday.
Surpassing his season total of innings pitched (21.1) from 2010 in his three starts alone this year (22.2 IP), Hart is 3-0 as a starter in 2011 with a 2.38 ERA and an opponent batting average of .235.
Overall, Hart is 3-1 on the year with a 4.96 ERA in 32.2 innings of work with 20 strikeouts.
Benson Adjusting Well To New Role, Too
After recently joining the Minutemen's starting rotation, senior Charlie Benson is 1-1 with a 1.23 ERA through his first two starts of his career.
Against Harvard in the opening round of the Beanpot, Benson took the loss, but pitched eight shutout innings and struck out a career-high seven batters.
Benson followed up by picking up a win over nationally-ranked Charlotte, the Minutemen's first regular season victory over the 49ers since 2008. In that contest, Benson worked 6.2 innings and held Charlotte to just one run on eight hits.
A Little Help From My Friends
With 13 outfield assists to date, UMass is Atlantic 10 lead with Richmond in that category.
Pacing the Minutemen with eight outfield assists is centerfielder Rich Graef. His mark is tied for first in the conference, as Richmond's Mike Mergenthaler has eight, as well.
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 fifth all-time on the UMass single season saves list.
Sorenson currently has six saves on the year, good for fourth all-time on the single season list. He tied the school record with his 10th of his career on Apr. 26 vs. Northeastern in the Beanpot consolation game. In his next appearance, he surpassed the career mark previously set by Mitchell Eilenberg (2006-09) and Scott Ratliff (2002-04) with his 11th in a 5-1 win over 25/26 Charlotte.
In a team-high 16 appearances on the season, Sorenson holds a 2.64 ERA over 30.2 innings and 23 strikeouts. As a reliever, his ERA stands at 1.73 in 26.0 innings of work with 21 strikeouts.
In Atlantic 10 play, Sorenson has allowed just one earned run in eight appearances, a total of 17.0 innings. He has given up a total of 11 hits in that span with 13 strikeouts, one walk and an opponent batting average of .177.
Sorenson's 0.61 ERA in conference play ranks first among all A-10 pitchers. Overall, he is fourth in saves with six.
Gedman And Copa Among A-10's Most Dangerous Hitters
Through 38 games, senior Matt Gedman is currently leading the Atlantic 10 with a .420 batting average and was ranked 15th in the country in the latest NCAA statistics report.
Senior Peter Copa boasts a team-leading 23 walks, contributing to his A-10-leading .497 on base percentage. He was 25th in the country in the latest NCAA statistics report in on base percentage. Gedman ranks fifth with the conference with a .458 on base percentage.
Copa ranks third in the Atlantic 10 in slugging percentage at .624. Copa has eight of the team's 19 home runs, along with one triple and seven doubles.
Situationally, Gedman is hitting .438 (32-for-73) with runners on base and .4341 (26-for-59) with two outs. Eleven of his 28 RBI have come with two outs.
With 21 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 (32) and Gedman is third with 28, behind with classmate Kyle Multner (31). Gedman has scored a team-high 36 runs, while Copa is second with 35.
Both Gedman and Copa have extremely high OPS numbers at 1.065 and 1.121 respectively.
What A Way To Begin An A-10 Career
In Atlantic 10 play, freshman Dylan Begin is hitting .383 to rank second on the team and eighth in the conference.
He is 18-for-47 at the plate and holds a .468 on base percentage and recently capped off an 11 game in-conference hitting streak.
Conference Pitching Kind To UMass Bats
The Minutemen currently are batting .310 in conference games, second in the A-10 to only Dayton (.315). UMass has scored 110 runs in nine games and has 12 home runs. Four Minutemen are hitting .349 or better in A-10 play.
Individually, senior Peter Copa is first in runs scored (20), third in total bases (39), second in batting average (.436) and tied for fifth in RBI (15).
Matt Gedman is tied for second in runs scored (18) and tied for second in home runs (4).
Kyle Multner is the leader in doubles (7), second in RBI (18) and 12th in batting average (.361).
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.
Making The Most Of Opportunities
Despite tallying 74 less hits than its opponents, UMass has scored just 21 fewer runs. Contributing to the Minutemen's scoring production are 137 walks and 70 sacrifices (21 sac flies, 49 sac bunts).
Junior Tom Conley is fourth in the country with seven sacrifice flies and senior Eric Fredette ranks 333rd in the country with 11 sacrifice bunts.
With the bases loaded, UMass is hitting .395 (15-for-38), compared to a .269 (14-for-52) 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.
Multner is the active career leader with 24 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. He is now tied with Pete Gautreau (1995-98) for sixth and needs two to match Nick Gorneault (1998-2001) for fifth.
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 fourth in the Atlantic 10. 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 swiped 33 bags in 51 attempts through 38 games this season.
Peter Copa leads the squad with a 13-for-14 mark on the base paths in 36 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' 11 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.
Youth Movement
The Minutemen are a young bunch in 2011 as 13 of the 30 players on the roster are freshmen. Making up the rest of the squad are five sophomores, six 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.
Senior Charlie Benson made his first career start in a 1-0 loss Harvard in the opening round of the Beanpot and struck out a career-high seven batters.
Junior Ben Hart threw his first career complete game against Quinnipiac on May 3, including eight shutout innings.
Hitting Streaks
Matt Gedman recently posted the fourth-longest hitting streak of the season in the Atlantic 10, hitting safely in 18 straight games, a career high.
Gedman's streak marked 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. He currently has an active streak of five games.
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. He currently has an active eight game hitting streak, the longest on the squad.
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.
Sophomore Rich Graef recently concluded a nine-game hitting streak. Also with streaks of six-plus this season, sophomore Anthony Serino (seven games), freshman Dylan Begin (seven games) and junior Tom Conley (six 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 play host to Fordham next weekend, May 13-15, with the series opener set for 1 p.m. on Friday. 
