Baseball Outlasted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 12-9

Recaps, photos courtesy of UMass

Judd tallies 3-for-5 performance in losing effort Wednesday night

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – University of Massachusetts baseball was defeated on Wednesday night at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by a score of 12-9. With the loss, the Minutemen are now 4-5 and the Islanders improve to 12-7 on the season.

Redshirt freshman Collin Shapiro worked two walks on the night to extend his reached base streak to nine games and both senior Ryan Lever and junior Eddy Hart pushed their respective streaks in that category to eight games apiece. Redshirt sophomore Anthony Videtto doubled to hit safely for the fifth straight contest.

Elsewhere in the lineup, freshman Dylan Judd went 3-for-5 with his first collegiate double and his first two RBIs and runs scored as a Minuteman. Hart went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and sophomore Luke Oliphant homered for the first time in his career.

UMass initially took a 4-0 lead, first sparked by a three-run second inning in which Judd poked a two-run single through the right side before Shapiro worked a bases-loaded walk. Then in the third, Lever's two-out single up the middle brought Hart home to swell the visitors' lead to four.

The Islanders were quick to counter with a four-run third but UMass reclaimed the lead with two in its half of the fourth. Senior Logan Greene pegged a sacrifice fly to right field to bring in Judd and four pitches later Videtto doubled to the gap in right center field to drive Shapiro in.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the fifth and tacked on runs in the seventh (3) and eighth (2) innings, seeing Massachusetts post a two-spot in the eighth on Oliphant's homer as well as a sacrifice fly by Oliphant in the top of the ninth.

For Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Zach Rumfield (2-0) picked up the win out of the bullpen with three innings of no-hit work plus five strikeouts. Freshman Daniel Livnat (0-1) was hooked with the loss for the Minutemen and David Worrell closed it out for the Islanders, picking up his first save of 2019.

UMass opens a three-game series with Kennesaw State on Fri., March 15 at 4 p.m.

March 12th Recap

SAN ANTONIO – University of Massachusetts baseball was unable to overcome a pair of big innings as the Minutemen were defeated at Incarnate Word, 19-4, on Tuesday afternoon at Sullivan Field. UMass is 4-4 following the loss and the Cardinals move up to 10-7 on the season.

Senior Alec Norton went 3-for-3 at the plate for the Minutemen including a two-run home run, his first of the 2019 season. Redshirt freshman Collin Shapiro and redshirt sophomore Anthony Videtto each turned in 2-for-4 days with a run scored apiece. Shapiro has also reached base safely in all eight games this season.

After UIW initially claimed a 2-0 lead in its half of the first inning, UMass answered with three in the following frame. Junior Nolan Kessinger put the Minutemen on the board with a sacrifice bunt that scored redshirt sophomore Anthony Videtto, then two batters later, Norton sent the first pitch he saw over the left field wall for a two-run shot.

But the Cardinals would tie the score at three-apiece in the bottom of the third before regaining the lead in the fourth for the remainder of the afternoon. UIW put up a six-spot in the fourth, later adding one run in the seventh and nine in the eighth inning.

Shapiro scored UMass' final run of the day in the top of the eighth as a result of a ground out.

The win on the mound went to UIW's Tyler Miller (1-3) and freshman Kevin Dow (0-2) took the loss for the Minutemen.

 

March 10th Recap

EDINBURG, Texas – University of Massachusetts baseball weathered a late charge from UT Rio Grande Valley as the Minutemen wrapped up the weekend series with a 14-11 win on Sunday afternoon at the UTRGV Baseball Stadium. The result ends a three-game slide for the Maroon and White, who improve to 4-3, as the Vaqueros drop to 11-5.

UMass exploded for 14 runs on 13 hits, both season-highs, with all nine Minutemen in the batting order collecting at least one hit. Four players in senior Logan Greene, junior Nolan Kessinger, redshirt freshman Collin Shapiro and redshirt sophomore Anthony Videtto all had multi-hit performances at the plate and Greene (5), Shapiro (2) and Videtto (3) plus redshirt sophomore Connor Smith (4) contributed multiple RBIs in the win.

Smith's day included the first grand slam of his career and Greene clubbed a three-run homer, his first of the 2019 campaign.

The Minutemen worked quickly in the second to set up the early spark from Smith. Videtto opened the frame with a base hit to left before a walk to Greene and a bunt single by Kessinger loaded the bases. With one away, Smith hammered an 0-1 pitch beyond the left field bullpen and gave UMass the 4-0 advantage. But UTRGV answered in the bottom half to tie the score at four-apiece and added two more in the third, aided in part by Anthony Gomez's two doubles that netted him five RBI. 

A six-run fourth then returned the lead to Massachusetts. Sending nine men to the plate, Shapiro brought senior Ryan Lever in with a single before Videtto sent a two-run knock to center field. Two pitches later, Greene homered to nearly the same spot beyond the left field bullpen as Smith and pulled the Minutemen ahead at 10-6, which would remain until the sixth and seventh innings when the teams exchanged three runs each.

Shapiro logged his second RBI of the day in the eighth with a base hit that plated senior Alec Norton, before the Vaqueros got back within four on a solo shot in their half by Andy Atwood.

UTRGV threatened in the last of the ninth and capitalized on a one-out fielding error with the bases loaded to narrow the UMass lead to 14-11. Freshman Daniel Livnat then took to the hill and worked a fly ball on the first pitch he threw, earning his first collegiate save.

The win on the bump went to freshman Jack Steele (1-0), who allowed two runs on four hits over four innings. UMass hitters faced a total of 10 different Vaqueros arms on the day, with the loss ultimately going to Kevin Palm (2-1) after being tagged for four runs in 1.2 innings of work earlier in the contest.