AMHERST, Mass. (April 17, 2024) – For the second straight day, the Sacred Heart University baseball team appeared to be locked in a low-scoring, midweek, non-conference pitching showcase. Right up until it wasn't. The Pioneers took a lead in the sixth and surrendered it in the seventh, which left their game at Massachusetts tied at 3-3 heading to the bottom of the eighth. Then though, the host Minutemen struck for nine runs in the frame and took a 12-3 victory at Earl Lorden Field.
Massachusetts (12-20) got on the board first, with a run in the bottom of the first. Michael Toth singled leading off, but was erased at second base as Kyle Hoog reached on a fielder's choice. Hoog stole second, moved to third on an infield single and scored on a squeeze bunt by Zack Zaetta.
SHU (18-16) got the run right back, plus another one, in the top of the third.
Joey Skarad (Stamford, Conn.) led off and looped a ball down the right-field line which the UMass defense turned into a single when they were unable to flag it down. Two batters later,
Alex Ungar (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) deposited an 0-1 pitch into the hedges beyond the fence in left center, for his second home run of the season.
The Minutemen evened up in the last of the fourth, when Hoog hammered a solo shot through the power alley in right center, his first of the season.
Sacred Heart stepped back out front with a run in the top of the sixth. Ungar reached on an error leading off, moved up on a
Gavin Donohue (Melrose, Mass.) sacrifice and scampered home on an RBI double by
Zack Kovalchik (Archbald, Pa.).
Massachusetts leveled the game again, this time at 3-3, with a run in the seventh. Kevin Skagerlind poked a leadoff double down the line in right, stole third and scored on an RBI double to left by Mike Gervasi.
Left-hander
Jonathan Peterson (Florham Park, N.J.) had come on to record the final two outs of the fifth for SHU, stranded two in scoring position then, and had worked 2.2 innings of one-run, two-hit ball when he went back out for the bottom of the eighth. Peterson was in trouble from the get-go in the eighth though, as he walked the leadoff man and then an error on an attempted sacrifice put two on and nobody out.
A successful sacrifice by Jack Peters made it two runners in scoring position and forced the Pios to pull the infield in with one out. Peterson got a chopper to Donohue, who may have had a play at the plate, but the shortstop bobbled the transfer, which meant his only play was to first. This created an awkward situation where Donohue was throwing to a moving target, as
Dante D'Amore (Southington, Conn.) backpedaled towards first base from his drawn-in position. D'Amore fielded the throw on the move and swiped a tag at Matt Travisano, but first-base umpire Kevin Moreland said he came up empty, which left Travisano with an RBI infield single and UMass with a 4-3 lead.
The inning unraveled quickly from there. Right-hander
Charlie Costello (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) took over on the mound and was greeted by a squeeze bunt from Skagerlind. Costello shoveled the ball home with his glove hand, but too late to retire the runner from third. Austin Burgess followed and took an 0-2 pitch out to left center for his fifth homer of the campaign, a three-run shot to make it 8-3 and all but put the game away.
Jack Beverly and Toth would each add a two-run homer against the back end of the SHU bullpen to create the 12-3 final.
Peterson (1-2) was ultimately charged with four runs (three earned) on three hits and a walk, with two strikeouts, and suffered the loss.
Left-hander Justin Masteralexis made a rare seven-inning outing in a midweek start for UMass. He fired 93 pitches (61 strikes), allowed just three runs (two earned) on three hits, walked two and struck out six. Left-hander Zack Given (1-0) struck out one in a scoreless eighth and was the beneficiary of UMass' nine runs in the bottom half.
SHU is on the road for its Northeast Conference this series, with three games at Delaware State April 19-21. First pitch on Friday is set for 3 p.m. at Soldier Field in Dover, Del.
