The Massachusetts baseball team suffered its fourth weekend sweep of the season, losing three in a row to Saint Joseph’s. UMass (6-25, 1-11 Atlantic 10) couldn’t capitalize on the momentum from its midweek victory against Sacred Heart and has now dropped to 1-11 in conference play.
After six innings of play the Minutemen trailed 6-2 on Sunday. With runners on first and second and two outs in top of the seventh inning, freshman Justin Blumenthal stepped up to the plate and knocked a single into right field to drive in a run.
Down 6-3 and with runners on second and third due to a throwing error on Blumenthal’s single, UMass had its opportunity to get back in the game but the Minutemen didn’t take advantage of this opportunity, however. Freshman Sam Hill grounded out to end the inning.
This has been a common trend for the Minutemen this season that was evident this weekend, failing to capitalize on opportunities to get runs on the board when they need it most.
“Just couldn’t seem to come up with a big hit in a big spot,” UMass coach Matt Reynolds said. “Not able to capitalize in big spots, bases loaded, second and third. Just stranded too many guys out there.”
After a low-scoring pitcher’s duel on Friday afternoon, UMass got blown out in its Saturday matinee game by a score of 12-3.
The Hawks (15-19, 7-5 A-10) jumped on starting pitcher Taylor Perrett in the first inning, posting five runs in the opening frame. Perrett lasted two innings, finishing with a line of six runs on eight hits with no walks and no strikeouts.
The Minutemen chipped away as the game went on, grabbing two runs in the third and one in the fifth, bringing the score to 6-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
After three strong innings out of the bullpen however, graduate student Renn Lints faltered in his fourth inning of work, allowing two runs. Senior Charlie Devin was brought in to clean up the mess, but he struggled as well, allowing three more runs before the Minutemen finally got out of the inning. An 11-3 deficit was too much to handle for UMass as the five-run sixth inning proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Hawks on their way to a 12-3 victory.
Graduate student Jack Pawlowski was strong on the mound for the first four innings in game one of the weekend, keeping Saint Joseph’s off the board until the fifth inning.
Pawlowski only managed to pick up two outs in the inning, allowing three runs to come in which tied the game at the time.
UMass’ offense was quiet for the rest of the game, allowing Saint Joseph’s to score once more to win, which it did in the sixth inning. The Hawks would get an insurance run in the seventh to finish off a 5-3 victory.
Getting length out of starting pitchers has been an issue for the Minutemen all season, but graduate student Jack Steele gave UMass a glimpse of what it needs out of its starters moving forward on Sunday afternoon. Steele pitched into the sixth inning while keeping his team in the game, giving them the opportunity to compete.
“Jack Steele was much more himself [Sunday],” Reynolds said. “Hopefully he’s back to being the guy we know he can be. That was by far the best he’s looked; gave us a pretty darn good effort.”
The Minutemen will be back in action on Tuesday when they take on Hartford at Lorden Field in Amherst. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
Matt Skillings can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @matt_skillings.
