The Massachusetts baseball team had difficulty getting its bats going as the first seven innings saw UMass (8-8-1) score one run courtesy of a Nolan Tichy RBI single. In the top of the eighth inning that all changed when the Minutemen offense exploded.
UMass started out the top of the eighth with back-to-back singles from Drew DeMartino and Will MacLean. The Minutemen then picked up two quick outs. With two outs Jacob Sloss stepped to the plate and started the rally by hitting a ball right down the middle to drive in DeMartino and bring MacLean to third.
Now with Carter Hanson at the plate Albany’s (12-9, 2-4 American East Conference) Owen Birkman committed a balk – a rare occurrence and typically called when a pitcher mimics his normal throwing action or windup but doesn’t end up throwing the ball. Birkman’s balk allowed for UMass’ baserunners to advance which meant that MacLean crossed home plate making the score 7-3.
After Hanson reached first on a walk, Cole Hebble singled into left field to bring home Sloss. Kevin Skagerlind followed up the Hebble single with an RBI double. Rob Manetta was brought into relieve Birkman and he did the job getting the Great Danes out of a messy eighth inning. Heading into the top of the ninth, UMass failed to carry over its momentum from the prior inning.
“[Birkman] missed a few spots, left the ball over the plate and we took advantage of it,” UMass head coach Matt Reynolds said of the comeback. “It was too little too late, it’s the eighth inning and we are chasing five or six runs instead of it being a two or three run ballgame.”
Max LeBlanc, who started the game on the mound for the Minutemen, had been having a rough start to the season. In four appearances before his outing against Albany, Leblanc had walked nine batters and given up 13 runs in 7.2 innings. His earned run average in those 7.2 innings was 15.26.
“His stuff is really good, but he’s not really commanding it well,” Reynolds said postgame. “[LeBlanc] is much more talented than the pitching results are showing right now.”
In LeBlanc’s outing, he walked two batters while striking out one and giving up four runs. The sophomore righty had some control issues throwing several wild pitches, one of which led to a run.
Despite only getting one hit in the second inning, Albany scored four runs. On the game the Great Danes had seven runs on six hits. Albany scored its first run of the game off a DeMartino error. Michael Whalen hit a grounder that took a funky bounce which prevented second baseman DeMartino from cleanly fielding it. Johnny Marti, who was on third, hustled home for the game’s first run. The Great Danes took full advantage of the Minutemen’s fielding woes and pitching troubles.
In the bottom of the third, John Daly had a rocket hit down the left field line that resulted in an RBI triple that put Albany up 5-1.
After LeBlanc exited the game UMass went with a pitching by committee approach as six different pitchers saw the field. Out of those six Matt Aronson spent the most time on the diamond pitching two hitless innings.
The Great Danes looked to be aggressive on the basepaths, as they totaled five steals on the day. Jason Bottari who has 21 steals on the season added another two to his season total.
“We knew that [Bottari] could go,” Reynolds said. “We were a little sloppy holding some guys on and [Albany] took advantage of that.”
UMass will now look ahead to a weekend series against Saint Joseph’s. The three game homestand will start Friday, 3 p.m. at Earl Lorden Field.
James DiLuca can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @DiLucaJames.
