University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
7-13, 0-1
VCU
17-9, 1-0
Baseball Falls, 7-6, In Extra Innings At VCU
March 28, 2024 | Baseball
Hanson went 4-for-6 on the evening, including his fourth home run of the year.
The Minutemen move to 7-13 on the year, including 0-1 in the A-10, while VCU improved to 17-9 overall and 1-0 in the league.
Carter Hanson led the team, going 4-for-6 on the evening, including a double and his fourth home run on the season. Hanson added a run and two RBI to his stat sheet. Austin Burgess and Michael Toth tallied two hits apiece, while Kevin Skagerlind, Matt Travisano and Marc Willi contributed a hit. Skagerlind had a team-high two runs, with Burgess registering two RBI. Travisano and Toth also batted in one run each.
UMass took an early 2-0 lead in the first. Skagerlind led off with a walk, before Burgess singled through the right side to send Skagerlind across the plate. Carter Hanson grounded out to VCU's shortstop for the second out, allowing Burgess to head home.
A three-run homer aided the Rams to a 3-2 lead in the second inning. The Minutemen answered back, though, with a three-run fourth inning to reclaim the lead. With two outs, Braden Sullivan took his place on first after seeing four balls. Toth stepped up to the plate and doubled to right field to score Sullivan to tie up the contest at three apiece. After Skagerlind reached first on an error, Burgess hit a two-RBI double of his own, pushing Toth and Skagerlind across the dish to take a 5-3 lead.
Massachusetts grabbed another run in the fifth frame, as Hanson had a solo home run over the right field wall, marking his fourth long ball of the season to extend the lead to 6-3. VCU tacked on another run in the sixth with a solo homer to make it a 6-4 contest.
In the ninth, VCU scored two runs to knot up the game at six apiece and force extra innings. The Rams walked it off in the bottom of the 11th with an RBI single to eke out the 7-6 win.
Mikey Jensen (0-2) had the loss for UMass, going two complete innings, with one run and two hits allowed, while striking out three. Sam Belliveau started the evening on the mound for the Minutemen, pitching five innings and giving up three runs on as many hits, five walks and striking out two. Leif Bigelow entered for Belliveau, allowing three runs on four hits, a walk and dealing four strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work.
Owen Tappy (4-1) earned the win for VCU, pitching two innings with only one hit allowed, while striking out one.
Massachusetts and VCU ready for game two of the series on Friday, March 29, at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Tappy, Owen (4-1)
L: Jensen, Mikey (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Skagerlind, Kevin 1 ; Burgess, Austin 1 ; Hanson, Carter 1 ; Toth, Michael 1
HR: Hanson, Carter 1
RBI: Burgess, Austin 2 ; Travisano, Matt 1 ; Hanson, Carter 2 ; Toth, Michael 1
SH: Toth, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Skagerlind, Kevin 2 ; Burgess, Austin 1 ; Hanson, Carter 1 ; Sullivan, Braden 1 ; Toth, Michael 1
CS: Toth, Michael 1
HBP: Willi, Marc 1
Batting:
HR: Fulk, Anderson 1 ; Hill, Aden 1
RBI: Fulk, Anderson 5 ; Hill, Aden 1
SH: Bean, William 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Fulk, Anderson 1 ; Hill, Aden 1 ; McHugh, Chris 1 ; Ericsson, Nic 1 ; Bean, William 1 ; Kleinman, Casey 1 ; Brooks, Ethan 1
SB: Iannuzzi, Ethan 1 ; Brooks, Ethan 1
CS: Zirwas, Devan 1
