After a blowout loss to Northeastern this past Friday, the Massachusetts men’s baseball team was able to find the win column this Sunday with two wins against the Stony Brook Seawolves (2-3) who are considered the America East preseason favorite. The Minutemen (2-1) outscored the Seawolves in the doubleheader, 12-5. They won Game One, 9-4, in seven innings, while taking the second game as well, 3-1, in five frames.
“It was great to get back on track today,” UMass head coach Matt Reynolds said. “Getting those two wins definitely was good for us.
On the day UMass received great pitching from junior lefty Ben Shields and sophomore Jack Steele. Shields started the first game of the doubleheader, delivering a quality start, going 4.2 innings allowing three runs on three hits with three strikeouts and four walks. Steele went 3.2 innings giving up one run on just two hits while striking out four and walking three.
Additionally, sophomore Jack Pawloski got his first career save in the back end of the doubleheader, striking out two in 1.1 innings.
UMass was able to set the tone for the day with a four-run first inning in Game One. All of those runs came with two outs, capped off with a double by Chris Pearsons that drove in three runs. The Minutemen continued their success on the offensive end with seven players recording a hit. UMass tallied nine runs on 10 hits compared to Stony Brook’s four runs on eight hits.
In Game Two, UMass again got on the board early with a sacrifice fly in the first inning from third basemen Aidan Wilde. Stony Brook was quickly able to even the score off a UMass error. The game remained tied until the fourth inning when an RBI single by sophomore Steve Luttazi made it 2-1 Minutemen. UMass would get some insurance, as Wilde drove in his second run of the game on a triple to right center field in the fifth inning.
This game went only five innings, as it was cut short due to darkness.
Senior infielder Eddy Hart and sophomore catcher Dylan Judd had three hits a piece on the day, spearheading UMass on the offensive side of the ball.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Minutemen had some struggles, collectively committing five errors in the double header.
“That is something that we have to clean up,” said Reynolds. “Going forward it’s something that we have to continue to work on.”
The Minutemen showed resilience with this bounce back performance. UMass will look to build off this success as they will take the field on the road against Central Connecticut. The game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m on March 9.
James DiLuca can be reached at [email protected].
