The outfield is producing as much as any other group of position players on the Massachusetts baseball team.

Mike Donato leads the Minutemen with 52 hits and a .342 batting average. In UMass’ latest game against Siena, Donato went 3-for-5 with one run and one RBI. Donato singled in the first inning to push his hitting streak to eight games.

Donato is one of the most consistent bats in UMass coach Mike Stone’s lineup. The junior has failed to record a hit in just eight of the teams 37 games. He and fellow junior Brian Baudinet are the only Minutemen to play ‘- and start in ‘- all 37 games for UMass (16-21) this season.

Baudinet is batting .310 this season and leads the team with 31 runs-scored and is tied with senior second baseman Adam Tempesta for second on the team in home runs, with four. He is the only Minuteman to notch 25 runs, 25 runs batted in and 25 walks.
Baudinet is tied with fellow outfielder Mike Gedman for the team lead in stolen bases, with six. He is one of the Minutemen that have produced the most with runners on base as well. Baudinet, Donato and third baseman Jim Macdonald all have 26 hits that advanced runners.

Gedman and Kyle Multner have split time in the outfield, with Multner getting the nod in 13 more of the 37 games played by UMass. There isn’t much difference between the two players in run production however ‘- Multner has 16 RBI to Gedman’s 13.
The two are tied with three home runs apiece and are similar in many other categories as well. The main difference between the two players is speed. Multner is more of a pure hitter who can consistently put the bat on the ball. Gedman, however, can do much more when the ball is in play.

Gedman outdoes Multner in every extra-base hit category because of his exceptional speed. Multner has only two steals on the season, a third of Gedman’s total.

Pitching staff making strides
Mitchell Clegg, Jared Freni, Mike DiCato and Nick Serino have become a cohesive pitching staff for Stone at this point in the season. Eleven of UMass’ 16 wins have come from pitching efforts from these four pitchers.

Clegg leads the staff in wins (4) and strikeouts (53). Opposing batters are hitting just .243 against him in 61 and 1/3 innings pitched. He has an earned-run average of 4.55 which includes giving up a team high nine home runs.

During the week of April 24, Clegg was named Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference co-pitcher of the week, along with Niagra’s Marcus Spalding. Against St. Joe’s, Clegg pitched the first complete game shutout of his career and the first by a UMass pitcher since 2005. He struck out seven in the effort.

Serino followed that effort with a complete game of his own. He let up just two runs while striking out 10, one shy of his season high. In the only other game in which his strikeout total reached double digits, Serino fanned 11 in six innings against Virginia Commonwealth, giving up no runs while walking five.

Freni’s 52 and 2/3 innings pitched is the second highest on the team. He and Clegg are the only UMass pitchers with multiple appearances that have all been starts. Freni gives up few home runs but this is overshadowed by his 32 earned runs surrended, a team high.

Small ball producing big results
The Minutemen have shown much productivity when doing the little things correctly. Fundamentals have been key for UMass.

The Minutemen are batting .512 with runners in scoring position. UMass has also battled through tough situations; batting .306 with two outs.

Mike Gillmeister can be reached at [email protected].