The Massachusetts baseball team gets the chance to play at Fenway Park this Tuesday as it looks to capture the consolation game against Northeastern in the Beanpot Tournament.
UMass (12-21, 5-7 Atlantic 10) is winless in its last four outings, including being swept in its last Atlantic 10 series against Xavier. The bats have gone quiet since the Minutemen had a 48-run outburst in its series against Temple. Since then, UMass is 1-5 and has scored just 20 runs in six games, including being blanked in two contests.
The Minutemen lost in the first round of the Beanpot on April 20 to Harvard, 1-0. UMass battled hard against the Crimson, especially pitcher Charlie Benson, who tossed eight innings, allowing just one run on nine hits and three walks while fanning seven. UMass did not allow a runner to reach third base until the seventh inning.
The Crimson walked off with the win in the bottom of the ninth off an RBI single up the middle by Danny Moskovits. Jack Colton drew a leadoff walk and moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt before scoring off the bat of Moskovits.
Northeastern fell to Boston College, 6-1, in the opening round of the Beanpot. The Huskies were tied with the Eagles at one apiece until things got away from them in the bottom of the fifth inning. BC tacked on five runs in the bottom of the inning, including four off of senior JT Ross. The southpaw allowed five runs on nine hits and walked one in his fourth loss of the season. The Huskies had trouble scoring when they had opportunities, stranding runners in the first three innings as well as leaving the bases loaded in the sixth inning.
UMass coach Mike Stone has chosen Ben Hart to get the start against the Huskies at Fenway. Hart is currently 1-1 with a 7.50 ERA on the season and is making just his second start this year, coming off an impressive outing against Central Connecticut last week. UMass defeated CCSU 8-3 behind Hart’s eight-inning performance, allowing just four hits and striking out three.
“Hart had a great outing last time against CCSU, and I feel that he can do the same against Northeastern to get us back on track,” said Stone.
The UMass bats will need to get going this Tuesday if it expects to pick up a win. Matt Gedman ended his hit-streak at 18 games against Xavier over the weekend. He is still leading the team with a .425 batting average, while Peter Copa and Rich Graef are the only other two other players batting over .300 for the Minutemen.
“Sometimes when people are hitting the ball well they get complacent, which can lead themselves into a slump, so we just need to get back on track by making solid contact and getting the hits, and hopefully get back on track against Northeastern,” said Stone.
The game will be played at Fenway, home of the Boston Red Sox, at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon. UMass is 5-8 in games held at neutral ballparks this season.
“Most of these guys are real excited about getting to play at a big league ballpark, especially because the Red Sox are a big fan favorite around this area, so they are definitely looking forward to the opportunity,” said Stone.
Michael Counos can be reached at [email protected].
