Massachusetts Baseball Continues A-10 Play Against Rhode Island

University of Massachusetts Baseball Game Notes
Game 38-40	Massachusetts (10-27, 3-12 Atlantic 10) vs. Rhode Island (18-23, 8-7 Atlantic 10)
Date // Time	Friday, May 5 // 3 p.m. Saturday, May 6 // 1 p.m. Sunday, May 7 // 12 p.m.
Location	Amherst, Mass. // Earl Lorden Field
Series History	Massachusetts, 109-86 Last Meeting: Rhode Island, 3 (vs) Massachusetts, 0 \| April 17, 2022
Live Stats	StatBroadcast Friday \| Saturday \| Sunday
Twitter	@UMassBaseball \| @UMassAthletics \| @CoachReynolds25
Instagram	UMass Baseball \| UMass Athletics

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Setting the Scene
University of Massachusetts baseball returns home to continue Atlantic 10 Conference play against Rhode Island on Friday, May 5 through Sunday, May 7. First pitch at Earl Lorden Field is set for 3 p.m. on Friday, 1 p.m. on Saturday and 12 p.m. in Sunday's series finale.

The Minutemen sit at 10-27 overall record after falling to Quinnipiac on Wednesday afternoon, while holding a 3-12 A-10 record. The Rams are 18-23 overall, including 8-7 in league competition and are coming off a 2-1 series loss to Dayton, winning the final game last Saturday, 11-6.

Recap in a Minute
UMass faltered in its midweek matchup at Quinnipiac, 10-7, on Wednesday afternoon.

Michael Toth led the Minutemen with a career-best three hits, including the first home run of his collegiate career. Toth also added a career high two runs and matched his career-best of two RBI to his stat sheet. Nolan Tichy followed with two hits, as three Minutemen registered one apiece. Kevin Skagerlind recorded two RBI, while Sam Hill contributed two runs to UMass' total.

All-Time vs. Rhode Island
The Minutemen and Rams will meet for the 196th time in program history, with UMass holding the 109-86 advantage over URI. The first meeting between the two teams occurred in 1906 when Massachusetts defeated the formerly named R.I.S., 6-2. Massachusetts and Rhode Island competed last season for a three-game series in Kingston, R.I., with the Rams claiming two-of-three on the weekend.

Massachusetts last win against Rhode Island was on April 15 of last season, as the Minutemen came out on top, 6-4, on the day.

It's Going, Going, And It's Gone
Massachusetts has tallied 25 homeruns in 37 games played, from nine Minutemen. Tichy leads the production with eight, followed closely by Hanson with five. Will MacLean and Steve Luttazi recorded four and three, respectively, so far, while Zack Zaetta, Mike Gervasi, Hill, Toth and Ryan Coleman have one apiece.

Hanson recorded his first long ball of the year in the first game of the season at Navy, before adding another in the game three of the UNC Asheville series. Coleman garnered his first career homer in game one at UNC Asheville, while Hill registered his first home run in game three of at UNC Asheville. Luttazi and MacLean had their first of the season in the Navy series in game three and game two, respectively. Gervasi had his first homer in game one of the Penn series, as Tichy garnered his first of the season in game three at Penn.

Zaetta registered his first homer in game one at Saint Joseph's, with Toth recording the first of his career at Quinnipiac.

Tichy clubbed a career high two homers against Siena on April 26.

On A Roll…
Six Minutemen are riding a current hitting streak, so far this season. Tichy and Justin Blumenthal sit atop the leaderboard with seven, followed by Coleman and Chris Pearsons with two games apiece. MacLean and Toth are on a one-contest streak.

MacLean had a 16-game streak, which was the team's longest, before it came to an end. Hanson holds the second longest at nine, before that came to an end, as well.

MacLean is on a current 21-game reached base streak, as Luttazi follows with 14. Tichy recorded eight straight games with a reached base streak, while Blumenthal has seven. Zaetta has five games with a reached base streak, with Pearsons and Gervasi recording three and two, respectively. Coleman also has two games, and Skagerlind, Toth, Hill and Jack Peters are on a one-game reached base streak apiece.

MacLean holds the teams' longest streak with a total of 21 games. Luttazi (14) and Zaetta's (13) consecutive game totals are the teams' second and third longest, respectively, with MacLean and Luttazi holding the longest current streaks.

[Multi]ple Games
UMass has a strong showing with multi-hit games, as the Minutemen have run their total of multi-hit performances to 78. Luttazi leads the production with 13, which included three three-hit contests and two four hit games. MacLean follows with 12 apiece, as Tichy and Hanson registered 11 and 10, respectively, including two four-hit contests from Tichy. Zaetta totaled nine, while Hill, Blumenthal and Toth have five contests each. Skagerlind and Gervasi tallied three apiece, and Pearsons and Jacob Sloss contributed one each to UMass' multi-hit total.

Massachusetts has also contributed a total of 40 multi-RBI games, led by Tichy with eight, including a five-plus RBI game. Hanson and Luttazi follow with six each, which include a three-run contest each for the two Minutemen. Gervasi, MacLean, Skagerlind and Toth all have three, while both Zaetta and Blumenthal both garnered two multi-RBI contests. Four other Minutemen have tallied one game each, with a three-run contest from both Sloss.

Weekly Honors
After a stellar performance through five games last week, Tichy tabbed the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week on May 1, while also selected as one of 15 College Baseball News National Players of the Week.

Tichy posted a slash line of .591/.583/1.136 on a 4-1 week for the Minutemen. The junior tallied 13 hits in 22 at bats, including four home runs, 13 RBI, five runs, a walk and three stolen bases on the week. In the field, he totaled four putouts. Against Hartford (4/25), he went 3-for-5 with one homer and added two RBI and two runs on the day. Tichy's career day vs. Siena (4/26) saw a career-best two home runs, going 3-for-4 overall, and a career high six RBI, while registering two runs, a walk and a stolen base. In the weekend series at St. Bonaventure, he recorded two RBI and a career-high matching two stolen bases in game one, and went 3-for-4, which included his eighth home run of the season, with two RBI and a run during game three.

Keeping it in the Family
The 2023 season marks the 57th straight campaign that Massachusetts baseball will have an alumnus of the Flagship campus as head coach. Sixth-year skipper Matt Reynolds is a double graduate (2005, '10G), and was preceded by fellow alumni Mike Stone '82 (1988-2017) and Dick Bergquist '57 (1967-87).

This is the second longest active streak across Division I baseball. Only BYU (62 consecutive seasons) has been led by an alum of its campus for a longer period.

On Deck
Massachusetts prepares for a two-game week, as the Minutemen travel to UMass Lowell on Tuesday, May 9, before returning home on Wednesday, May 10, to face Stonehill. Both contests will begin at 4 p.m.

Scoreboard