The Massachusetts baseball team commanded a lead the entire game on Tuesday, keeping the Hartford offense at bay and picking up a 9-2 win at home.
After starter Tyler Dalton retired the Hawks (2-29) quickly, The Minutemen (7-25, 1-11 Atlantic 10) sent nine batters to the box in a three run first inning. Kevin Skagerlind and Will MacLean led off the bottom of the first with singles. After a Carter Hanson walk loaded the bases, Nolan Tichy and Justin Blumenthal hit the runners in to command an early 3-0 lead.
The early lead allowed Dalton to settle in and breeze to a three inning, one hit start with three strikeouts and zero runs allowed. He was relieved by Blake Bennett who, despite having a tough year, settled in for a one hit performance in three innings of work.
“[Bennett] was good,” UMass coach Matt Reynolds said. “He’s got a very good splitter that he hasn’t been able to use. It’s good in the pen, but he hasn’t been able to find it in a game. In that third inning, he really went to it a few times. That was good to see.”
In the third inning, Jake Given brought in Sam Hill with a single. The scoring continued in the sixth when Blumenthal and Hill each hit RBI singles, making the score 6-0. Blumenthal was 2-5 with three RBIs while Hill was 2-4 with an RBI of his own.
Hartford got a run in the top of the seventh after Martin Chavarria hit an RBI single scoring JJ Romatzick, who led off the inning with a single.
The bottom of the seventh put the nail in the coffin in favor of the Minutemen. Steve Luttazi launched a two-run bomb onto the roof of a building in right field, scoring Jack Peters. Luttazi was 4-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. He has a team high .390 batting average.
“Hitting is contagious,” Luttazi said. “If a guy in front of you is doing it then it gives you a little more confidence to go up there and be relaxed and just hit the ball.”
Tichy joined the seventh inning party with a solo home run himself to make the score 9-1. Tichy was 3-5 with two RBIs. He tied the team lead in home runs with his fifth of the year.
“It feels good, gives me some confidence. I struggled a bit last weekend. It was good to get a couple hits today,” Tichy said.
The Minutemen pitching in the final three innings was manned by Sam Belliveau, Daniel Livnat and Jackson Harrigan. They combined for one strikeout with three hits and two runs. Hartford’s final run came from a Devin Kellogg RBI single in the ninth.
UMass has a fast turnaround as it hosts Siena on Wednesday, April 26 at 3 p.m. at Lorden Field.
“We’re in the stretch of the schedule right here where we feel like if we play well we should have some success,” Reynolds said. “That’s one game, hopefully we can roll that momentum into [Wednesday] and start getting a little streak going.”
Owen Shelffo can be reached at [email protected].
