UPDATE (Noon): Today’s game between UMass and Harvard is postponed due to weather and is scheduled to be played Monday, April 13. No location has been announced.
After a thrilling eighth inning propelled the Massachusetts baseball team to a 6-5 victory over Siena Tuesday afternoon, the Minutemen will have a quick turnaround before another midweek contest.
Wednesday, they’ll take on Harvard in the first round of the baseball Beanpot.
Traditionally, the Beanpot (first played in ice hockey) was a competition between Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern. Since 1996, however, UMass (6-10, 5-4 Atlantic 10) has taken BU’s place in the baseball edition of the tournament, after the Terriers stopped offering baseball as a Division I sport.
Since joining the field of four, the Minutemen have enjoyed moderate success. They’ve won four Beanpot titles, with two of them coming back-to-back in 1996-97. The last UMass championship, however, was in 2008.
But even with the historic undertones to the tournament and a trip to Fenway Park for the championship game on the line, Minutemen coach Mike Stone was all business.
“It’s a real important tournament for us in the middle of the season,” Stone said. “We need to play well and get ourselves into the championship game.”
They’ll try to do just that on the arm of junior right-hander Brandon Walsh. Walsh pulls double duty for the Minutemen – he plays catcher and first base at times while also making appearances on the mound. Wednesday marks the third appearance Walsh will make on the rubber this season.
“He’s a power pitcher,” Stone said. “He’s one of the guys we have confidence in at the end of a game.”
Wednesday, though, Walsh will get the start – just the fifth of his career and first this season.
It also marks UMass’ long-awaited home opener. After their first home series of the year was moved to Northborough due to poor field conditions, the Minutemen will finally get their first action at Earl Lorden field after 16 games on the road or at a neutral site.
The team, according to Stone, could not be more excited.
“Absolutely,” Stone said when asked if the team was ready for the home opener. “We worked on the field yesterday and threw the tarp over it. Hopefully, the weather forecast cooperates with us.”
Weather will pose a threat to UMass again Wednesday. The high temperature for Amherst was predicted as 41 degrees and a chance of showers in the afternoon is also expected, as of Tuesday night. Stone and the Minutemen, though, have their fingers crossed.
UMass enters the contest led by centerfielder Kyle Adie, whose scorching start to the season has driven his batting average up to .371. The redshirt senior leads the team with 23 hits, with one of those coming Tuesday. Adie was 1-3 and scored two runs for UMass, and his at-bat in the eighth inning helped spark a late rally. Trailing 5-1, Adie reached on an error and eventually went around to score – one of five UMass runs in the inning. Mike Geannelis earned his first save of the year, and the Minutemen held on for their sixth win of the year.
After missing 10 games due to injury, Geannelis returned to action over the weekend with a pinch hit-homerun, and saw his first action on the mound this season Tuesday. After being named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year as a freshman in 2014, getting Geannelis healthy and productive again will be crucial going forward for the Minutemen.
Harvard (14-13, 3-5 Ivy League) enters the game winners of four of five, though the Crimson dropped their most recent contest against Cornell Sunday afternoon. They are led by a duo of seniors who lead the team in most offensive categories in catcher Ethan Ferreira and first baseman Jake McGuiggan.
Ferreira leads the team with a .378 average and 10 doubles, while McGuiggan is first in runs batted in (22) and sports a .363 average of his own.
On the mound, senior Andrew Timoney leads the team with a 4-1 record, and his earned run average sits at 3.69. It’s not known, however, who the Crimson will send to the mound this afternoon.
First pitch is scheduled for Lorden Field at 3:30 p.m.
Ross Gienieczko can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @RossGien.
