After playing its first 11 games of the season on the road, the Massachusetts baseball team will finally return to somewhat familiar territory Wednesday.
The Minutemen will face in-state rival Boston College at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough. And though its the road team, it will be the first game UMass has played in the state of Massachusetts this season.
After starting the year 0-5 with series losses against Army and Harvard, the Minutemen (4-7, 4-2 Atlantic 10) have ripped off a stretch of four wins in six games against Atlantic 10 opponents. After sweeping Dayton, UMass dropped its three-game series against Virginia Commonwealth 2-1, but still sits in fourth place in the A-10.
The Minutemen will have an important three-game set against second-place George Washington this weekend, but first they’ll have to take on the streaking Eagles.
Boston College (11-13, 4-7 Atlantic Coast Conference), like UMass, is rounding into form after struggling to start the season. They’ve won five straight games including a sweep of ACC foe Duke and a 22-1 waxing of Northeastern.
The Eagles, led by Chris Shaw, whose seven home runs and 31 RBIs lead the team and are both good for fourth in the ACC. He comes in riding a hot streak that’s garnered national attention – after driving in 11 runs with five extra base hits and a slugging percentage of 1.000 in five games last week, he was named the ACC Player of the Week and National College Baseball Writers Association Hitter of the Week.
Michael Strem is the other main contributor at the plate for Boston College. The sophomore utility player leads the team with 27 hits and 10 doubles.
The Minutemen will counter with a plethora of pitchers in what coach Mike Stone called a “staff day.” Stone plans on throwing nine different pitchers for an inning each, starting with right-hander Tim Cassidy.
“We’re two weeks into the season, and not everyone has had a chance to get work in,” Stone said. “If we want to be a good team, we need to get 11 or 12 guys going.”
After Cassidy, Stone said Kevin Lacy and Ben Panunzio were scheduled to see action.
The concept of a staff day is unusual, but if there was a day to do it, Wednesday against the Eagles makes sense. It’s a non-conference game, so it doesn’t count toward A-10 standings, and it will help UMass prepare for its gauntlet of games ahead. Starting Friday with the beginning of their series against George Washington, the Minutemen will play 21 games in 25 days, including nine games in conference play.
At the plate, centerfielder Kyle Adie and second baseman/designated hitter Rob McLam have led UMass to its surprising conference start. Adie leads the team with a .356 average and 16 hits. Slotted first or second in the order for most of the season, Adie has been an important table setter for the Minutemen.
“He’s done a real good job,” Stone said of Adie. “His swing looks really good. He’s coming inside out, and hitting a lot of line drives.”
McLam has reverted to his 2012-13 form after missing the entire season last year with a knee injury. He is third on the team with a .313 average, and his RBI double in the top of the eighth inning against VCU Saturday night helped give the Minutemen their only win of the weekend series against the Rams.
“He’s been good,” Stone said. “He’s getting on base a lot. Last weekend wasn’t his best, but the weekend before against Dayton, he was swinging the bat really well.”
First pitch between the Minutemen and Eagles is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Northborough.
Ross Gienieczko can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @RossGien.
