The Massachusetts baseball team dropped its third straight series against Elon, losing two out of three games. The Minutemen (3-7) won the second game with an offensive barrage in a 12-2 victory.
The best performance of the series at the dish came from the bat of junior Jack Beverly. The community college transfer posted a 4-10 performance with four RBI and a two-run home run, his first of the year, keeping him among team leaders in hitting.
“[Beverly]’s had multiple big hits already, so he’s done a really good job of, you know, stepping in and playing very solid defense,” head coach Matt Reynolds said. “We had him up in the four hole today just because he gives us such a good solid at bat all the time. (I) just love what he’s doing.”
Matt Travisano also had a good weekend, going 5-12 at the plate with two RBI, two runs scored and a double.
Game three was the most exciting game of the series, ending in a walk-off win for Elon (7-8).
Beverly got the scoring started with the aforementioned two-run homer in the first inning. Justin Blumenthal added his first homer of the year in the top of the third inning to extend the lead to three for the Minutemen. The Phoenix rebounded with three runs in the bottom half of the third to tie it back up.
After more back and forth from both teams, UMass opened the ninth inning down two runs. A fielder’s choice, a Carter Hanson RBI single and a Mike Gervasi RBI single gave the Minutemen the lead, 9-8. Elon quickly loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth and hit a walk off single to secure the series and the game with a 10-9 victory.
“We just made some mistakes,” Reynolds said. “Four errors, each one of them cost us. Then we had some opportunities. We got into scoring position, we put up nine runs, but we could’ve easily put up 12 to 14.”
On the mound, Sam Belliveau delivered the best performance in game two, allowing just two runs in six innings of work. He was relieved by Leif Bigelow who allowed zero runs securing the game two win.
“[Belliveau] was awesome. [He] was exactly what we needed coming out of the first game. He just grinded, was reasonable, which was huge … He was completely dominant,” Reynolds said.
Offensively in game two, five UMass hitters had multi-hit games and the team put up 16 total hits in a 12-2 run rule win in seven innings. Jake Given was 3-4 with a double and three RBI. Graduate student Austin Burgess had his first home run as a Minuteman.
Game one was forgettable for UMass as Elon cruised to an 8 inning 10-0 win. The Phoenix put up three runs in the second and fifth innings and two runs in the sixth. The Minutemen had just four hits in the contest. Max LeBlanc got the loss allowing three runs off just one hit with four walks in 1.2 innings.
UMass now turns its attention to a midweek home matchup with Holy Cross. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12 at Springfield College.
Owen Shelffo can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @owen_shelffo.
