The Massachusetts baseball team fell to the Sacred Heart Pioneers 7-16 in a midweek clash on Tuesday. The Minutemen (10-20-1, 4-11 Atlantic 10) began the game well with the bats, but could not match their opponent’s offensive production through the back half of the contest.
Offensively, the highlight for UMass came in the top of the fifth. Braden Sullivan sent a rocket off his bat into the outfield, ultimately resulting in a two-run home run. That was Sullivan’s third long ball of the season, increasing his OPS to .788.
The Minutemen had their fair share of success at the plate in the first five frames. UMass found a spark early as Carter Hanson drove in a run with a single to right field in the first inning. Reece McCarthy followed that up in the fourth with a one-run single to left center to bring the Minutemen’s advantage to 2-1.
The UMass offense grabbed a fifth run in the top of the sixth due to a series of walks. Despite the loss, the Minutemen offense displayed their discipline at the plate, collecting nine walks throughout the game. They also had three batters finish with multiple hits, with Jack Beverly, Sullivan and Marc Willi all gathering two knocks apiece. Willi and Beverly both grabbed a late-game RBI.
After strong pitching through five innings, UMass led the Pioneers (18-17, 11-7 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) 5-1. Michael Aceto performed well through his first three innings of bullpen work, coming back out for the sixth inning after entering the game in the second inning with two runners on and not allowing a run through the fifth.
Aceto struggled in his fourth inning of work, giving up a home run to Zack Kovalchik in the first at-bat of the inning. Sacred Heart tallied three more base hits before the graduate student exited the contest with the score 5-4.
The Minutemen then looked to Dylan Terwilliger as the next arm up out of the bullpen. The junior let up four hits on four consecutive batters, which included a two-run double from Dante D’Amore. Terwilliger came out of the game after surrendering three more Pioneer runs to make the score 5-8, without recording an out.
UMass got another solid start out of Ben Thomason on Tuesday. He has now started the team’s midweek matchup two weeks in a row, including last week against Fairfield. As Justin Masteralexis and Andrew Middleton remain injured, Thomason is proving his worth. Last week against Fairfield, he pitched a sound two innings, not allowing a run and recording a strikeout. He performed similarly against Sacred Heart, allowing one run on 1.2 innings pitched.
After Terwilliger exited, UMass allowed eight more runs, which ultimately became too much for the offense to surmount. The Pioneers finished the game with 18 hits in the afternoon, while the Minutemen had 11 of their own. Sacred Heart outscored UMass 15-3 in the final four innings to claim victory No. 18 of its season.
The Minutemen have lost 11 out of their last 12 contests, with the one win coming against Richmond.
With just five A-10 conference series left, UMass will look to iron out its woes this weekend against George Mason. The series begins on Friday, April 18 at 3 p.m. in Amherst. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.
Zeke Altman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @EzekielAltman
