The Massachusetts baseball team earned its first conference win on Saturday against Akron before falling to the Zips (9-10, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) on Sunday for the second time in the series. The win snapped a six-game skid for the Minutemen (5-7, 1-5 MAC) dating back to Feb. 28.
After Brody Chrisman’s RBI single in the bottom of the third inning cut UMass’ lead to one, the Minutemen desperately needed an insurance run to secure Saturday’s win. Two innings later, Anthony Tirado stepped up to the plate with one out. The sophomore shortstop swatted his first home run of the season, belting one over the right field fence to make it 5-3 and seal the eventual 5-4 victory.
A four-run first inning provided the bulk of the offense for UMass, with Tirado starting the rally by reaching on an error and advancing to second. Ty Fox drove a 2-2 pitch into the right-center gap, scoring Tirado and putting Fox on third.
Jack Beverly’s groundout drove in Fox, and after Reece McCarthy reached on another error and advanced all the way to third, the Minutemen seemed poised to break the game open early. With two home runs through 10 games, Gavin O’Brien came up to the plate with an opportunity to do damage. The sophomore did exactly that, working the count full before blasting a home run to right field to make it 4-0 in the top of the first inning.
Despite starter Drew Sliwkowski only pitching 0.1 innings, the UMass pitching staff limited Akron to six hits and four runs. Each of the five Minutemen pitchers walked at least one batter, totaling 10 free passes on the day, but limited the damage from those extra baserunners. Ben Thomason and Adam Merritt each struck out two batters, with Gavin Sitarz and Jack Niedringhaus chipping in with one strikeout each.
UMass could not maintain its momentum on Sunday, losing 18-17 to drop the series. Even though they held a 10-2 lead in the fourth inning, the Minutemen surrendered 16 unanswered runs to create an 18-10 deficit that they couldn’t overcome.
The Zips started their comeback with Brennan Morgan’s two-RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth. Austin Lafferty and Kyle McConachie each drove in another run after both getting hit by a pitch, and Atticus Huffstutler’s walk brought in another. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Gabe Mathison scored Lafferty, and a wild pitch by Brandon Wingenroth allowed McConachie to trot home to make it 10-9 despite Akron only recording three hits in the inning.
The Minutemen staged a comeback in the top of the ninth, with Tirado’s two-RBI double driving in Braden Sullivan and Vance Bonior to cut the deficit to six. After Fox walked and Beverly got hit by a pitch, the bases were loaded for O’Brien, one day after hitting a home run. The sophomore settled for a walk, scoring another run to make it 18-13.
With the bases loaded and McCarthy coming up to the plate, UMass still had an opportunity to claw its way back into the game. The sophomore smacked his second home run of the season, a grand slam to make it a one-run game.
Just when it seemed like the Minutemen had all of the momentum, Nathan Currah shut down their lineup, getting Will Briggs to fly out to center and striking out Sullivan to end the game.
UMass will look to win its first MAC series against Kent State starting on Friday, March 20, at 3 p.m.
James Rust can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @James__Rust.
