UMass Baseball Blanks Dayton, 5-0, In A-10 Opener

March 20, 2015

DAYTON, Ohio - The UMass baseball team, propelled by a stellar pitching performance from senior co-captain Conor LeBlanc, opened Atlantic 10 play with a 5-0 shutout of Dayton on Friday afternoon. With the win, the Minutemen improve to 1-5 overall, 1-0 in conference action, while the Flyers drop to 6-13, 0-1 in the A-10.

LeBlanc hurled eight shutout innings in his start for the Minutemen en route to the win (1-1), allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out seven.

After the teams had played through four scoreless, UMass took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth. Junior Paul Yanakopulos led off with a single to left field and redshirt senior Rob McLam drew a two-out walk, extending the inning for redshirt senior Adam Picard who knocked in the pair with a double to right center.

In the sixth, sophomore Matt Bare drove a one-out double into left, moved to third on a ground ball and scored the Minutemen's third run of the day on a single to left by Yanakopulos.

UMass pushed its advantage to 4-0 in the top of the seventh. Redshirt senior Kyle Adie reached with a single to left and later crossed the plate on a wild pitch.

The Minutemen then capped off the scoring in the top of the ninth when McLam, who drew a one-out walk earlier in the frame, scored on a two-out single to left by Bare.

Dayton starter Charlie Dant took the loss as he allowed three runs on eight hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Bare paced UMass at the plate with a 3-for-5 day with a double an RBI and a run scored. Picard went 2-for-4 on the afternoon with a double and a pair of RBI, while Yanakopulos was 2-for-4 as well with an RBI and a run scored.

The teams will be back in action tomorrow, March 21, with game two of the weekend series slated to begin at 1 p.m.

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Matt Bare

Kyle Adie

Adam Picard

Paul Yanakopulos

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University of Massachusets Athletics