The Massachusetts baseball team won one in three games, losing its third Atlantic 10 series of the season against Rhode Island on Friday and Saturday. The Minutemen (9-12-1, 3-6 Atlantic 10) took game one of the weekend against the Rams (15-12, 6-3 A-10), but struggled heavily on the pitching front in their last two games.
UMass came out victorious in the first game of the weekend, winning 6-3 through an all-around performance. Four runs in the second inning propelled the Minutemen to a quick lead. That frame began with a well-hit home run by Jack Beverly to left center, his fifth of the season. His teammates continued the momentum through the rest of the inning, scoring off two fielder’s choices before Anthony Tirado recorded an RBI on a sacrifice grounder.
On the pitching front, Robbie O’Connor did more than enough to earn the win, presenting movement and velocity in his pitches that Rhode Island couldn’t deal with. The sophomore finished with seven scoreless innings while only allowing six base runners through the entirety of the outing.
The win was treated like business as usual by Matt Reynolds and his team, although it marked UMass’ first series-opening win against an A-10 opponent this season.
“They are all the same,” Reynolds said. “There are 30 A-10 games and we want to win them all the same.”
There were defensive struggles following game one for the Minutemen, as over the next two games, they let up a combined 30 runs. 13 of those came in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, as the Rams benefitted off shaky zone control and stolen bases. UMass saw its fair share of success at the plate, recording seven hits, but Rhode Island took advantage of runners in scoring position to cruise to a 13-1 victory.
The final game of the series on Saturday brought much more drama. With the Minutemen down 3-1 for a majority of the contest, big hits from Marc Willi and Jared Munoz brought them back to tie the game going into the sixth inning. After holding the Rams scoreless in the top of the frame, Gavin O’Brien hit a long home run through the Earl Lorden Field bushes to take the lead. UMass cruised into the seventh inning up two after four straight scoreless innings pitched from Callen Powers and Sam Belliveau.
Reynolds decided to leave Belliveau in the game for the seventh and eighth innings. That decision backfired when Rhode Island scored three pivotal runs to take the lead. The scoring came from a home run by Anthony Depino and a two-run double from Scott Penney.
The Minutemen dug in to score a sixth run to tie the game going into the final frame, as Carter Hanson notched a one-run double to right center field.
The ninth inning started and the rain in Amherst turned from a drizzle to a downpour. Pitcher Ben Thomason dealt with the brunt of it early, as he found it difficult to grip the baseball. The freshman was removed after failing to record any outs while letting up three earned runs. He faced three batters and walked each one of them.
Mikey Jensen replaced Thomason with UMass trailing by two runs. Jensen didn’t make things much better, recording two outs and giving up six runs. The situation went from bad to worse, and by the time the Minutemen gathered their third out, they had used four pitchers and the Rams had scored 11 runs.
The rain didn’t affect Rhode Island like it did the home team, as the Rams retired three of four UMass batters to get the 17-6 win, taking the series in Amherst.
The Minutemen will look to recapture their series-opening play against Harvard on Tuesday, April 1 at Earl Lorden Field. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. in Amherst.
Zeke Altman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @EzekielAltman.
