Second baseman Eric Fredette changed the momentum of the weekend series between the Massachusetts baseball team and Saint Louis with his game-tying three-run homer in the eighth inning of Game 2.
“It was huge,” UMass coach Mike Stone said. “[The game] changed 180 degrees. It completed a comeback. He just had a great at-bat, took a great swing, and came up with a big clutch hit.”
Before his big swing to left field, the Minutemen (10-21, 7-8 Atlantic 10) were outscored 13-4 in the series, and came close to losing their first conference series since Charlotte’s sweep over UMass in early April.
Instead, Fredette jump started a 16-0 run as the Minutemen came back to win the middle game, and snatch the series away from the Billikens (20-21, 8-7 A-10) with a 12-0 victory in game three.
“[Fredette’s hit] deflated them because we were down by quite a bit,” Stone said. “[Saint Louis] probably figured the game was over with and for him to step up like that, we were able to continue that momentum right on through the second game [of the day].”
It was Fredette’s biggest highlight of an eventful weekend. He finished 8-for-12 in the series with three runs scored and six runs batted in. The junior leads the team with a .415 batting average and a .568 slugging percentage.
Leigh continues to dominate
Senior Bryan Leigh continued his streak of top pitching performances this weekend by striking out 11 Billiken hitters during eight shutout innings in the final game of the series.
After starting the season 0-4, Leigh has won three straight games, compiling a 1.73 earned run average in 26 innings pitched.
“He’s certainly proved that he works better as a starter,” Stone said. “He has command of four pitches, works fast, throws strikes and did a great job.”
After pitching in two straight complete games on the road against Boston College and Rhode Island, Leigh showcased his recent spark in front of the Minutemen fans on Saturday.
His last appearance at home before Saturday was on April 7 against UConn, when he suffered the loss after giving up four runs in one inning of relief.
In his latest outing, Leigh limited the two power hitters in the middle of the SLU lineup, Danny Brock and Jon Myers, to one hit in eight at-bats with. Myers struck out twice in four at-bats. In the first two games of the series, Brock and Myers had been 5-for-17 with six runs batted in and two runs scored.
Popielarczyk ends Saint Louis’s final threat
Northampton native Joe Popielarczyk came out of the bullpen in Game 2 and made his mark in what was an offensive-minded game.
In the top of sixth inning, with the Minutemen trailing 9-3 and the bases loaded, Popielarczyk struck out Myers and got the next batter to ground out to end the threat. Popielarczyk earned the win after pitching three innings of relief, surrendering no runs and striking out five batters.
“[Popielarczyk] is a great kid,” Stone said. “He’s a hard worker, he has a great attitude and he just battles. He did a tremendous job. Just when we needed it, he came in a tough position, with the bases loaded, and limited the damage. Then he pitched some great innings to get us to the point where we were ahead in the ninth [inning].”
It was a drastic change from Popielarczyk’s last outing against Harvard on April 21, when he gave up four runs in three and one-third innings. With five more strikeouts on Saturday, Popielarczyk has collected 19 strikeouts in only 13.1 innings pitched.
“He’s got a very good slider and that’s the strikeout pitch,” Stone said. “He did the job where we needed to have someone really step up and shut them down to give us a chance to climb back into the game.”
Pete Vasquez can be reached at [email protected].
