Tuesday’s Massachusetts baseball game ended in a 7-7 tie against Quinnipiac after both head coaches decided against playing into the night.
Although a tie isn’t a normal result in college baseball, the Minutemen (3-3-1) and Bobcats (4-6-1) made Tuesday’s game an interesting one. Early home runs by Jack Beverly and Carter Hanson had UMass pumping its fists, but it was quickly canceled out by an eighth-inning meltdown. Before the game made it into extra frames, both coaches met at home plate and decided that the waning daylight was an issue, deeming the rest of the game unplayable.
The Minutemen started off firing on all cylinders with the bat, as well as on the mound. UMass went into the bottom of the fourth inning leading by five runs, but that quickly evaporated as the Minutemen struggled once again to perform late in close games. UMass let up three runs in the eighth inning due to big Bobcat home runs and late-game knocks.
Jack Beverly continued a theme of the Minutemen staying hot at the plate as the senior took Quinnipiac’s Griffin Seibel deep just three-batters into the contest. Beverly improved to a .292 batting average as well an outstanding .869 OPS. He also became the third UMass player to hit a home run this season.
Hanson was the story of the game, though. With the bat, Hanson finished with two hits, a walk and a pivotal home run midway through the game. Hanson moved up to second in batting average on the team at .385. He is only behind Anthony Tirado, who is at .471 early in the campaign.
Although the pitching wasn’t satisfactory late, it still took a village for the Minutemen on the road. Freshman Drew Sliwkowski got the start and wasn’t expected to pitch for long, but he delivered two lengthy innings, only allowing one earned run and two hits. His performance ended with an emotional exit off the mound after a big strikeout retiring the side, leaving a pair of Quinnipiac runners stranded.
Sliwkowski’s successor was right-hander Ben Thomason, who didn’t put up the same level of performance as his predecessor. Thomason pitched just one and two-thirds innings while letting up two earned runs and two hits. Andrew Houghton came on to try to clean up the mess, but his performance was flooded by mistakes, such as two hit-by-pitches and a balk. He let in two runs that were credited to Thomason.
It wasn’t until Mikey Jensen entered the game that the Minutemen found a sustainable arm midway through the contest. Jensen pitched for two and two-thirds innings with a strikeout. He allowed no runs, improving his earned run average to 1.69 on the season.
Another freshman, Austin Campbell, came in to replace Jensen, and he performed well in the seventh inning. UMass was in a good place heading into the bottom of the eighth, up 7-4, until late-game struggles kicked in once again. Campbell failed to finish the eighth inning after giving up three instrumental late-game runs to the Bobcats. A James Marino home run and Sean McCulloch single drove in two, ultimately costing the Minutemen the win.
After a scoreless ninth inning, UMass head coach Matt Reynolds and Quinnipiac head coach John Delaney decided to end the non-conference matchup after coming to an agreement about the amount of sunlight left being too slight.
The Minutemen will head into a big series looking to improve above the .500 mark. They head back to Maryland, facing Navy for a weekend series starting on Friday, March 7, at 4 p.m.
Zeke Altman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @EzekielAltman
