Baseball Travels to Kentucky for Series at Morehead State

University of Massachusetts Baseball Game Notes
Games 17-19	Massachusetts (6-10) at Morehead State (19-6)
Dates \| Times	Friday, March 31 - Sunday, April 2 \| 5 p.m. / 2 p.m. / 1 p.m.
Location \| Weather	Morehead, Kentucky Friday: 58 Degrees, Showers, Chance of Rain: 60% Saturday: 57 Degrees, Cloudy, Chance of Rain: 10% Sunday: 67 Degrees, Partly Cloudy, Chance of Rain: 10%
Series History	First meeting
Live Statistics	Game 1 \| Game 2 \| Game 3
Social Media	Twitter: @UMassBaseball \| @MSUEaglesBsball
Probable Starters	Massachusetts: RHP Justin Lasko (1-2, 3.70) \| LHP Brooks Knapek (2-1, 4.15) \| RHP Mike Geannelis (2-2, 4.26) Morehead State: LHP Aaron Leasher (5-0, 3.10) \| LHP Dalton Stambaugh (1-1, 6.66) \| LHP Curtis Wilson (3-2, 4.11)

Batting Practice
- The Massachusetts baseball team continues its non-conference slate on Friday with a trip to Morehead, Kentucky and a three-game series with Morehead State. The squads begin play at 5 p.m. on Friday, followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and conclude the series with a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday afternoon.
- This is the first ever meeting between University of Massachusetts baseball and Morehead State baseball.

Recap in a Minute
- UMass is coming off of a midweek contest at Boston College on Wednesday after Tuesday's scheduled home opener against Northeastern was postponed due to inclement weather. The Minutemen struggled form the plate, scoring only one run on three hits. The Eagles saw success on both sides of the ball en route to their 13-1 victory.
- The lone UMass run came on a home run to right field in the sixth inning from senior Mike Geannelis. This was Geannelis' first homerun of the season, and fourth of his career.

Scouting Morehead State
- Morehead State (19-6, 8-1 OVC) meets Massachusetts after a Tuesday and Wednesday matchup with Alabama A&M University at home in Morehead, Kentucky. The games, which were the teams 24^th and 25^th
of the season, saw Eagle wins by scores of 13-6 and 12-2, respectively.
- Last weekend the Eagles swept Eastern Kentucky in a three-game series. All games saw big offensive displays from both teams as the deciding scores were 15-9, 9-6, and 18-7 to wrap up the series.
- Junior infielder Braxton Morris enters the series with a team-leading .432 batting average. The Albertville, Alabama, product has been an offensive spark plug for Morehead State, clubbing three home runs and nine doubles thus far, tallying 23 RBI. Senior outfielder Will Schneider is also batting above the .400 mark at .408. Schneider has a team best 40 hits in 98 at bats.
- On the mound, junior LHP Aaron Leasher has dominated his opponents thus far, posting a 3.10 ERA with a team leading 45 strikeouts in 40.2 innings pitched. Leasher holds a 5-0 record in six appearances this season and has proven himself as a key part of the Eagles starting rotation.
- Mike McGuire is in his fifth season serving as the head coach for Morehead State, after previously holding coaching positions at Winthrop, Lander (S.C.) and Louisburg (N.C.). McGuire led Morehead State to a historic season in 2015. The Eagles posted school records for overall wins (38) and Ohio Valley Conference victories (20). MSU also captured its first league tournament title since 1993 and advanced to NCAA Regional play for the first time since 1983. McGuire was named OVC Coach of the Year. He has mentored 18 All-Americans and more than 50 players who signed professional contracts.

Facing the Ohio Valley Conference
- In over 100 years of UMass varsity baseball, the Minutemen have competed in six total games against teams that are currently members of the Ohio Valley Conference. However, this is the first meeting between University of Massachusetts baseball and Morehead State.
- The last meeting with an OVC team was against Jacksonville State in 2007. The Minutemen took a 15-14 win, that took 11 innings to decide. The Minutemen have also faced Eastern Kentucky, most recently in 2005, and hold a 4-2 historical record against Ohio Valley Conference teams.

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 would retire from coaching following the 2017 season. During his career in Amherst, Stone has helped UMass to 688 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.

Nine is Fine
- Throughout the 2017 season, the Minutemen will play in nine different states: North Carolina, Florida, Massachusetts, Virginia, Kentucky, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York. After this trip, the Minutemen will have played in five of these states so far.

On Deck
- After the three game series against the Eagles of Morehead State the Minutemen will play mid-week contests against Siena in Troy, New York on the campus of RPI (Tues. 3 p.m.) and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts in a Beanpot first round matchup (Wed. 3 p.m.). UMass will then return home to take on A-10 foe VCU in a three game series next weekend (Friday, 3 p.m./ Saturday 1 p.m./ Sunday 12 p.m.).

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Players Mentioned

Mike Geannelis

Brooks Knapek

Justin Lasko

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University of Massachusets Athletics