Baseball Opens 2017 Season at Elon this Weekend

University of Massachusetts Baseball Game Notes
Games 1-3	Massachusetts (0-0) at Elon (3-6)
Dates \| Times	Friday, March 3 - Sunday, March 5 \| 4 p.m. / 2 p.m. / 12 p.m.
Location \| Weather	Elon, N.C. (Walter C. Latham Park) Friday: 53 Degrees, Mostly Sunny, Chance of Rain: 0% Saturday: 54 Degrees, Sunny, Chance of Rain: 0% Sunday: 62 Degrees, Sunny, Chance of Rain: 0%
Series History	First meeting
Live Statistics	Stat Broadcast - Game 1 \| Game 2 \| Game 3
Social Media	Twitter: @UMassBaseball \| @ElonBaseball
Probable Starters	Massachusetts: RHP Justin Lasko, LHP Brooks Knapek, RHP Mike Geannelis Elon: RHP Ryan Conroy (1-0, 1.26 ERA), RHP Robbie Welhaf (1-1, 5.40 ERA), RHP Kyle Brnovich (0-1, 8.59)

Batting Practice
- The Massachusetts baseball team begins its 2017 season on Friday, March 3 with a trip to Elon, North Carolina. and Elon University. All three games of the series will be played at Walter C. Latham Park. First pitch on Friday is set for 4 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday's matchups will begin at 2 p.m. and 12 p.m., respectively.
- The series represents the first meeting between the Minutemen and Phoenix.

Scouting Elon
- Elon enters the weekend series with the Minutemen holding a 3-6 record. The Phoenix return home after a mid-week contest at East Carolina earlier this week where they fell 2-7.
- Senior Kory Shumate continues to pace the Phoenix offense, posting a team-best batting average of .438 after starting 7-for-16. In addition, Shumate is one of four was players with a .300 or above clip on the season and boasts a team best on-base percentage (.500) and slugging percentage (.625), as well.
- On the mound, the Phoenix have seen early season success, claiming the CAA Pitcher of the Week honor both weeks twice thus far in 2017 with Robbie Welhaf and Jordan Barrett collecting accolades.
- Welhaf surprised when he threw a no-hitter in his first start of the season and the first no-hitter in Elon NCAA Division I program history. Welhalf was honored as both the conference and national player of the week for his performance.
- Senior Jordan Barrett leads Elon with 21 strikeouts in just 13.0 innings pitched. Sophomore Ryan Conroy, is also off to a hot start with a 1-0 record in two apparances. Conroy leads all Phoenix starting pitchers with an earned run average of just 1.26 over the course of 14.1 innings.
- In 2016, Elon finished with a 25-29 overall record and a 13-10 mark in Colonial Athletic Association action, culminating with an appearance in the second round of the conference tournament.
- Elon alum Mike Kennedy is in the early stages of his 21st season at the helm of the Phoenix's baseball program. His previous 20 Elon teams have collected 17 winning records and 15 campaigns of 30 or more victories, all while consistently playing against many of the country's finest programs. In his full tenure at Elon, 52 players have gone on to play professional baseball. He garnered recognition as the Southern Conference Coach of the Year three times, before the team became a member of the CAA last season.

The Boys are Back
- Massachusetts' 2016 season finished on a high note after sweeping George Mason at home. The campaign wrapped up with a 4-2 win for the Minutemen in the finale, marked in part by a dominant twelve-strikeout pitching performance from Brandon Walsh over the course of eight full innings.
- Current senior co-captain Mike Hart led all returning players in batting average (.313) and on-base percentage (.414) in 2016, while the Lowell, Massachusetts product knocked in 14 runs while scoring 25 of his own, as well.
- Senior Dylan Morris and fellow co-captain aims to pick up where he left off in 2016, where he started all 45 games. Morris led the team with 186 at bats in 2016, while posting a .253 batting average.

On the Bump
- On the mound, the Minutemen bring back seven pitchers who combined to throw 232.2 of the squad's 391.1 innings last year. Leading the group, senior right-handed pitcher Ryan Moloney paced the Minutemen in innings pitched in 2016 with 69.2 and posted a 3.49 ERA over a team-high 11 starts with 41 strikeouts to 23 walks. Also back for the Minutemen, Justin Lasko posted a solid freshman campaign in 2016 that saw him post a record of 4-1 over 10 starts with a 4.19 ERA and 40 strikeouts to 15 walks.

Set in `Stone'
- The winningest head coach in team history, UMass skipper Mike Stone embarks on his 30th season directing the Minutemen baseball program. In the summer of 2016, Stone announced that he will retire from coaching following the 2017 season. During his career in Amherst, Stone has helped UMass to 682 victories with eight Atlantic 10 regular season championships, along with two A-10 postseason titles and two trips to the NCAA Tournament. Nearly 40 of his former players have gone on to play professional baseball.

On Deck
- Massachusetts returns to action with a road trip to Florida for spring break week where the squad will take part in the Delray Beach Invitational. This will continue the team's out of conference schedule with a three-game series against Maine, single games against North Dakota State and Harvard, while finishing off the week with a three-game series against Bucknell. The Minutemen open the Delray Beach Invitational on Friday, March 10 with game one against the Black Bears set for 10 a.m. in Delray Beach.

Scoreboard

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Players Mentioned

Mike Geannelis

Mike Hart

Brooks Knapek

Justin Lasko

Ryan Moloney

Dylan Morris

Brandon Walsh

Scoreboard

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