March 22, 2012
BRONX, N.Y. -
The UMass baseball team will open up its 2012 Atlantic 10 schedule this weekend, Mar. 23-25, when the squad will wrap up its Spring Break swing with a trip to the Bronx to take on Fordham. Entering Friday's game one matchup, which is slated to start a 3:30 p.m., the Minutemen are 2-5 on the year, while the Rams are 7-14.
Pitching Matchups
Game 1 (Friday, 3:30 p.m.): RHP Dennis Torres (0-2, 2.35 ERA) vs. RHP Daniel Munday (1-1, 4.15 ERA)
Game 2 (Saturday, 1:00 p.m.): RHP Glen Misho (0-2, 10.45 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Pike (2-0, 4.68 ERA)
Game 3 (Sunday, 12:00 p.m.): RHP Joe Popielarczyk (1-0, 0.84 ERA) vs. RHP Joseph Charest (1-4, 4.91 ERA)
Scouting Fordham
Fordham enters its first Atlantic 10 weekend of the season with a 7-14 record, including a 3-5 mark at home. The Rams have lost two straight heading into Friday's matchup, 3-2 to Maris and 11-2 to Stony Brook.
Mike Mauri holds the Rams' best batting average at .293 (22-for-75) and is tied for the team lead in RBI with 12. Matthew Cianci (.235) has scored a squad-best 12 runs.
Fordham holds a team earned run average of 5.22 in 177.2 innings with an opponent batting average of .279 with 87 walks to 123 strikeouts. Rich Anastasi leads the staff with a 2.25 ERA over 20 innings with a team-high 11 appearances and 24 strikeouts to just six walks.
UMass is 25-19-1 all-time against Fordham, including a 12-9 mark in the Bronx. The Minutemen went 1-2-1 against the Rams last season, which included a non-conference meeting.
Approaching a Milestone
Head coach Mike Stone is in his 25th season at the helm for UMass and is one win shy of his 600th as coach of the Minutemen. He currently holds a record of 599-531-3 (.530).
In his career, which spans 30 seasons (five at Vermont), Stone is 653-621-5 (.513)
McLam Emerging As Offensive Threat
Sophomore Rob McLam is having a breakout season as a sophomore, currently leading the team with a .500 average with nine hits in 18 at bats through seven games. He has a double, four RBI and three stolen bases to his credit, as well.
As a freshman in 23 at bats, McLam had seven hits, one double and three RBI. He equaled his RBI total from last season in one game this year, at Hartford on Mar. 13. Against the Hawks, he drove in the tying and winning runs in the eighth inning and finished the afternoon 3-for-3 with three RBI and two stolen bases
Conley A Mainstay For Minutemen Behind The Plate
Senior catcher Tom Conley is in his fourth year as a starter behind the plate for the Minutemen having played a possible 141 out of 154 games over four seasons at UMass, logging 135 starts.
Conley is the top returning hitter from the 2011 squad, posting a .299 average with 44 runs scored, 30 RBI, seven doubles, one triple and two home runs last season.
Primarily hitting fifth in the lineup as a junior, Conley struck out just 12 times in 147 at bats. He ranked second on the team in multi-hit games (13), third on the team in multi-RBI games (8), third in batting average and fourth in RBI.
Defensively, Conley threw out 24 runners on the base paths, which ranked him third in the Atlantic 10, while picking off two, as well. Opponents are just 5-for-10 in stolen base attempts against him this season.
A .294 career hitter, Conley begins his senior campaign with 136 hits, 77 runs scored and 68 RBI. He was an Atlantic 10 All-Rookie selection in 2009.
Strong Starts
Senior Joe Popielarczyk and junior Dennis Torres both performed well in their 2012 season debuts pitching at #18 UCF. The duo combined to throw 13 innings and gave up just two earned runs. The pair logged six of UMass' eight strikeouts on the weekend, Torres with four and Popielarczyk with two.
Popielarczyk and Torres followed up with another solid weekend in the series at Old Dominion, each throwing 5+ innings in their starts. Torres struck out five in a tough 3-2 setback, while Popielarczyk picked up his first victory of the year, allowing only two hits in 5.1 innings on the hill, combining for a shutout of the Monarchs and striking out four.
Streaks
Several returning Minutemen ended the 2011 season with active hitting streaks including junior Anthony Serino, who extended his six-game streak from last year to eight by hitting safely in the first two games of 2012 before going 0-for-3 in the series finale at UCF. The eight-game streak is a new career best for the outfielder.
Senior Tom Conley has now reached base in nine straight after ending 2011 by reaching safely in the final two games.
Redshirt sophomore Ryan Cusick has reached base in six straight contests, while redshirt freshman Adam Picard recently had his five-game hitting streak come to an end, the longest by any member of the Minutemen thus far this season.
Core Of Sophomores
Among UMass' returnees from the 2011 squad are 10 sophomores, including seven position players who saw time in the field as freshman. Those seven collectively played in 171 games with 109 starts and had a total of 407 at bats. Three--Dylan Begin, Josh Messier and Nick Sanford--started 20 or more games. Begin went 26-for-100 with 13 RBI and 12 runs scored with five doubles and one home run in 29 games with 26 starts.
Also not included in those 10 are two more players who missed time in 2011 due to injury. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Cusick returns looking to build off a freshman campaign in 2010 in which he started 34 games and hit .297 (44-for-148) with 34 runs scored en-route to an Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team selection. Redshirt freshman Adam Picard was off to a promising start before suffering a season-ending injury in 2011, logging six hits, with three doubles, in 21 at bats over seven games.
Picking Up Where They Left Off
Both coming back off of injuries, redshirt freshman Adam Picard and redshirt sophomore Ryan Cusick have gotten off to solid starts to 2012. The pair has accounted for seven of UMass' 12 extra base hits on the season, Cusick with four doubles and Picard with two doubles and a home run.
Cusick capped off the weekend at UCF by going 2-for-3 in game three and swiped three bags, one shy of the program single game record for stolen bases. As a freshman in 2010 he totaled eight stolen bases in 35 games and now is a perfect 6-for-6 after going 3-for-3 once again at Hartford. Cusick is tied for the team lead with eight runs scored on the season.
Arms Aplenty
Reaping the benefits of having a young pitching staff in 2011, UMass returns 285 of its 411.1 innings from last season, including seven who started on the mound.
Among those back for 2011 is senior Glen Misho. Misho led the Minutemen in wins (5), starts (12), innings pitched (82.2) and strikeouts (42).
Junior Dennis Torres started eight games in his first collegiate season, throwing a total of 46.0 innings and striking out 31. He is back in the starting rotation this year.
UMass' bullpen ace is senior Leif Sorenson who led the Minutemen with a 3.08 earned run average last season. Sorenson, who came to UMass as a sophomore after Vermont discontinued its baseball program, is the program's all-time saves leader (13) and holds the No. 4 and No. 5 marks on the single season saves list at UMass, including a career-best six in a team-high 21 appearances in 2011. Off to a great start to his senior campaign, Sorenson has yet to allow a run through four appearances, a total of 7.2 innings, and is holding opposing hitters to a .179 average. He has fanned seven batters, while walking just one, including the first five he faced at Old Dominion on Mar. 19 for a new career high.
The Minutemen have also bolstered the pitching staff with the addition of six freshman arms.
Career Firsts
Freshman Jeff Cavanaro recorded his first collegiate hit on Mar. 9 at UCF, a pinch hit single. He started his first collegiate game on Mar. 11 vs. the Knights.
Freshmen pitchers Tim Cassidy, Andrew Grant, and Dan Stoops all made their first appearances of their careers with the Minutemen in the UCF series, as well.
Conor LeBlanc made the first appearance of his career at Hartford on Mar. 13 and retired both batters he faced.
Tim Stoops threw 1.2 hitless innings in his collegiate debut at Old Dominion on Mar. 17 and struck out three. He has not allowed a hit thus far in two appearances and has fanned five.
Ron Wallace earned his first career victory at Hartford on Mar. 13.
Adam Picard hit his first career home run at Hartford on Mar. 13.
Tim Cassidy made his first collegiate start at Monmouth on Mar. 21.
Up Next
he Minutemen will play Holy Cross in their home opener on Tuesday, Mar. 27, at 3 p.m. on Earl Lorden Field. 
