After sweeping Rider last weekend, the Massachusetts baseball team is heading down south to play a three-game series against the University of South Florida. A foe as formidable as the Minutemen (2-0) will meet this season.
The Maroon and White will play its first game tonight at 7 p.m.
The Bulls (10-5), who have had the convenience of Florida weather, have already delved deep into their season and are a poised squad with a heap of talent up and down their roster.
UMass head coach Mike Stone, who earned his 500th win in the Minutemen’s 6-5 victory over Rider in the first game of the doubleheader, is used to seeing talented squads this early in the season.
“We always play a good team early, so we always have a series every year where we’re playing a top team,” Stone said. “They’re ready; they’ve been playing their inter-squad scrimmages before they even play other teams. I was just really pleased the way we looked Sunday. It didn’t look like it was our first time on the field.”
USF has taken care of the two Northeast teams that they’ve faced this year with a 4-1 win over Northeastern on March 2nd, and a 11-5 dismantling of Pennsylvania on March 9. Both victories came in the friendly confines of Red McEwen field, where the Bulls are currently 8-1.
Leading the way offensively for South Florida has been Matt McHargue, who is batting .361 with three home runs and 13 runs batted in, and Brian Baisley who is batting .286 but in 15 games has knocked in 16 RBIs.
Aside from their offense the Bulls have a solid pitching staff led by Kyle Schmitt and Chase Lirette who have 49 strikeouts between them.
“They have good pitching, they are going to be a solid team,” Stone said. “I try not to focus on the other team and what their strengths are, I’ve got to focus on what our strengths are and how we’re going to beat them.”
Part of the strategy lays in the hands of starting pitchers Matt Torra and Eric Chown. Both earned victories in last weekend’s doubleheader against Rider and have looked battle-tested in the early goings of this season.
Torra had a career-best 12 strikeouts in his first appearance for the Minutemen. The sophomore acquired the career mark in only six innings of work against Rider.
Pacing the offense for the Maroon and White has been Derrick Durepo, who has gone 5 for 8 with four RBIs and third basemen Adam Stojanowski who had five hits on the season, all of which were doubles. Stojanowski has also scored four runs for the Minutemen, leading the team.
UMass has been working out some physical kinks over the past week. In their first series the Minutemen had some sore muscles after getting adjusted to playing on a real field. Stone is hoping that after a week of practice his squad will be able to go the distance this weekend.
“Physically we have some issues to deal with but I think by the end of the week we’ll be ready and we’ll be focused, Stone said, “They’ll be excited about going down to Florida and playing a good ball club in a good ballpark.”
Senior second basemen Cullen Maumus, who went 2 for 9 with two runs and a double in the Minutemen’s series against Rider, knows that South Florida is a step up from their first opponent.
“I think we’ll anticipate a little higher level of play but we can’t really change our game,” said Maumus, “Every game we play we have to go into the same way, we play aggressive and fundamentally sound, we’ve just got to play our game.”
Over spring break, UMass will remain in Florida and will play five games against a slew of talent from around the country, in Bradenton. The Minutemen will face: Northern Iowa March 16, Iowa March 17, Wright State March 18, Wisconsin-Milwaukee March 19, and Miami of Ohio March 20.
