For the first time this season, the Massachusetts baseball team stepped onto the diamond Friday night in Orlando, as they faced off against No. 18 Central Florida.
The Minutemen (0-3) were the final Division I baseball team to begin their season.
UCF (13-4) was able to pull off a sweep against the Minutemen, but UMass showed steady improvement over the course of the series, as they lost 16-4, 5-4, and 2-1.
After a one-and-a-half hour rain delay, the Minutemen opened up their season against Ben Lively, a Conference USA All-Freshman pitcher. In the first inning, the sophomore walked three batters, but was able to squeeze out of the jam, as none of the runners crossed home plate.
Senior Glen Misho took the hill for the Minutemen (17-29, 8-15 A-10), and looked to start his team off in the right direction after UMass finished second-to-last in the Atlantic-10 standings last year.
However, Misho struggled in the first, and allowed the first seven men to reach base safely. UCF’s Chris Taladay and Alex Friedrich each registered runs batted in on a single and double, respectively. Misho barely escaped the inning, as he gave up a total of seven runs on three hits, three walks, two hit batsmen, two errors, and a wild pitch.
Misho gave up two more runs in the second, and another in the third, as UMass was unable to hold UCF scoreless in the fourth and fifth.
Meanwhile on the offensive side, the Minutemen were not able to get their bats going until the top of the fifth.
After junior Rich Graef walked to lead off the inning, Ryan Cusick, a red-shirted sophomore, hit an RBI double, as Graef tallied the first UMass run of the campaign.
UMass loaded the bases again, and this time they capitalized on a two-run single off the bat of third-baseman Nik Campero.
The Minutemen scored again in the sixth when junior Anthony Serino singled in Graef, to cut the deficit to six runs.
Despite the sudden offensive output, that would be the closest UMass would come to UCF, as the Knights scored six more runs, highlighted by back-to-back home runs from Friedrich and Nick Carrillo. Friedrich finished the night going 3-for-4 with one home run, two doubles, and six RBIs.
Freshmen Andrew Grant and Dan Stoops each made their collegiate debuts for the Minutemen, and combined to throw three innings of relief.
“We just gave up too many runs in the first inning,” said head coach Mike Stone on the rocky start to the season. “[UCF] had already played several games, and it was our first. We just needed to get acclimated to playing.”
Minutemen fall 5-4
The following day, the Minutemen were in far better control of the game, and had a chance to beat the nationally ranked UCF squad.
Dennis Torres, a junior from Lawrence, was on the mound for UMass in the middle game, and showed glimpses of brilliance.
He threw 7.2 innings, gave up five runs – only one of them earned – and recorded four strikeouts.
His one rocky inning was the first, where he gave up four runs on three hits. The four runs were a result of two errors in the inning, and none of them were earned.
The Knights touched up Torres in the fifth inning by first baseman D.J. Hicks, who slugged a solo home run.
Torres was relieved in the bottom of the eighth, coming one out shy of a complete game.
Offensively, UMass matched Friday’s effort picking up four runs, all coming in the first two innings.
The Minutemen picked up three hits in the first, and senior catcher Tom Conley added an RBI single in the inning.
They scored three more times in the second off of the Knights’ 6-foot-7 freshman lefty, Eric Skoglund. The runs were all unearned and came by way of a passed ball, throwing error and RBI single by Dylan Begin.
Down by one run in the ninth, UMass had two outs and Graef on second, with Serino at the plate vying for a potential game-tying hit. He came through with a base hit, but Graef was tagged out at the plate, ending the game in at 5-4 in UCF’s favor.
Knights complete sweep
On Sunday, the Minutemen pitching staff came through with another solid performance, something absent from last year, when the team had a 5.89 earned run average.
However, despite an impressive pitching performance, the UMass was unable to get the bats going, as it fell, 2-1, in the final game of its series with UCF.
They score their only run of the game in the third, thanks to the baserunning of Cusick. After singling to center, Cusick stole second, and then scrambled to third on a sacrifice. This set up an RBI groundout for Begin, as the Minutemen took a 1-0 lead.
On the mound, senior Joe Popielarczyk pitched scoreless ball through four innings of play. He then gave up back-to-back doubles to Carrillo and Ronnie Richardson in the fifth, which enabled the Knights to tie up the score. Carrillo scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a Hicks RBI single.
Popielarczyk gave up six hits, one run, and struck out two in 5.1 innings of work.
“Dennis [Torres] and Joe [Popielarczyk] pitched extremely well for us this weekend,” said Stone. “They gave us opportunities to win, and I’m happy with that.”
Freshman Tim Cassidy took the loss for UMass in his collegiate debut.
Brian Adkins picked up the win for UCF, as he went 5 innings, and allowed one run, three hits and struck out three.
The Minutemen will be back in action today at 3 p.m., as they travel to face off against a 1-10 Hartford team.
Coach Stone was positive about his team’s chances after a tough stretch to begin the season.
“After getting acclimated, we have played more comfortably offensively and defensively,” said Stone. “We’ve made some great strides since Friday, so expect us to come out and play well on Tuesday.”
Taylor Snow can be reached at [email protected].edu and followed on Twitter at MDC_Snow
