The Massachusetts baseball team took its inaugural meeting against the Eastern Michigan Eagles on Friday, escaping the ninth with a 4-2 win.
UMass’ (7-18, 3-13 Mid-American) offense came in waves and its pitching was superb, leaving the Eagles (10-22, 5-11 MAC) to scrap for runs all game long. Right-handed pitcher Callen Powers tossed another quality start, crossing seven innings and dropping his ERA to 2.97 on the season.
Powers collected his third win of 2026, racking up eight strikeouts and allowing just one run. Over his last two starts, the junior has amassed 18 punchouts while only giving up two extra-base hits. The Minutemen’s ace has also dealt 423 pitches across his last four starts, taking on a workhorse pitching role that’s been long forgotten in modern baseball.
“I’m confident in everything I throw,” Powers said. “I’m confident in my process and [in] everything I do… I just felt good there at the end of that outing.”
His dominance was complemented with a tie-breaking sixth inning thanks to a string of hits and some baseball luck. After Reece McCarthy and Jack Beverly hit back-to-back singles, Braden Sullivan broke an eight-pitch at-bat by ripping an off-speed pitch down the left field line. McCarthy raced in for the lead-taking run.
This critical base hit broke the tie, but some egoless baseball gave UMass an extended lead that it rode all the way to victory. With no outs, the Minutemen elected to bunt with their speedy shortstop Matt Travisano. He managed to get the ball on the ground, perfectly between third and the pitcher’s mound.
The recently checked-in Cole Egan ran for the slow-rolling ball, collected it and sent it straight into left field. The error gave Beverly more than enough time to score from second, giving his team a crucial insurance run. On the very next pitch, Ryan Kolben bet on the opposing pitcher’s yips, bunting again and scoring another run in a classic safety squeeze gamble. Sullivan scored this time; his and Beverly’s insurance runs both proved to be paramount in the later innings.
Thankfully for UMass, Powers stretched to his typical seven innings pitched. His work meant that the Minutemen bullpen had little to do: Brandon Wingenroth and Jack Niedringhaus threw just 29 pitches combined.
“The goal at the end of the day, as a starter on Friday, is to save bullpen arms,” Powers said. “We only threw two guys after me, and they didn’t throw too many pitches so they can come tomorrow or the next day.”
Powers has been UMass’ most reliable arm this season by a decent margin. His results speak for themselves, as he often works efficiently on the mound.
After Powers exited the game in the bottom of the eighth, the burden fell on Wingenroth and Niedringhaus to bring a win home. The graduate student Wingenroth allowed hits to left and right field in the ninth, placing two of the necessary three runners on base. The Xavier transfer Niedringhaus then entered the game with a door to slam, but he allowed a 3-2 walk, sending the winning run to the plate.
Despite the pressure, Niedringhaus and his fielders remained poised. A groundball to Travisano came a little too slow, and while he got a runner out at second, Nick Weaver ran a fast enough 90 feet to break up a potential double play. With runners now at the corners, the Minutemen’s senior pitcher had to rise to the occasion. He led with a fastball and a well-executed breaker before striking out pinch-hitting catcher Tristan Crane on a perfectly thrown change-up.
Crane’s strikeout was the second quick out for UMass in the final inning, and Travisano collected the third, giving the Minutemen their first ever win in the state of Michigan.
UMass will continue its quest for a series sweep on Saturday in Ypsilanti against Eastern Michigan. First pitch will be on ESPN+ at 3 p.m.
Matt Ford-Wellman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @MattFW_4.
