University of Massachusetts baseball broke a 3-3 tie with a nine-run eighth inning and never looked back as the Minutemen secured a 12-3 win over Sacred Heart University on Wednesday at Earl Lorden Field.
UMass recorded a season-high 18 hits with a team-best four home runs in the win.
UMass improved to 12-20 overall on the year, while Sacred Heart dropped to an 18-16 record on the season.
Mike Gervasi led the way, going 3-for-4, which included a double, while adding a run and a RBI. Kevin Skagerlind, Austin Burgess, Jack Beverly, Michael Toth and Jack Peters tallied two hits apiece, as Burgess, Beverly, Toth and Kyle Hoog registered a homer. Hoog led the team in runs with three, followed by Skagerlind and Toth with two apiece. Burgess had a team-high three RBI with Beverly and Toth batting in two each. Skagerlind, Marc Willi and Peters contributed a double on the day.
After a scoreless first inning, UMass broke through first in the second. Hoog reached base on a fielder's choice, before stealing second. Peters hit a single to help advance Hoog to third, while a Zack Zaetta laid down an RBI bunt to push Hoog across the plate.
The Pioneers took the lead in the third on a two-run homer, but Massachusetts tied up the game, 2-2, in the fourth thanks to a solo long ball from Hoog. It marked the first home run of the year for Hoog, and first as a Minuteman. The two teams remained deadlocked at two apiece through the sixth, before an RBI double gave Sacred Heart a 3-2 lead.
Massachusetts knotted up the contest once again in the seventh, as Skagerlind led off with a double down the right field line, before stealing third. With one out, Gervasi hit a double of his own to drive in Skagerlind and make it a 3-3 game.
The Minutemen kept the bats hot in the eighth, as the team plated nine runs. The inning saw a three-run homer from Burgess to give UMass a five-run lead, before Beverly homered to score him and Gervasi. Toth followed a Willi double with a two-run long ball of his own to aid UMass to a 12-3 lead. Both Burgess and Beverly registered their fifth home runs of the year, while Toth recorded his first of the season.
The UMass defense was able to hold off the Pioneers in the final frame to earn a 12-3 triumph.
Zack Given (1-0) received his first winning decision of the season for UMass after relieving Justin Masteralexis in the eighth. Given went one inning, allowing one hit and one strikeout. Masteralexis gave up three runs on as many hits, two walks and dealt six strikeouts in seven innings of work. Jonathan Peterson (1-2) took the loss for Sacred Heart, tossing three innings and allowing four runs on three hits, one walk and striking out two.
Massachusetts hits the road for a three-game Atlantic 10 series with George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia, on Friday, April 19 through Sunday, April 21. Friday's game begins at 3 p.m., while Saturday's contest is set for a 2 p.m. start. The two teams will close out the weekend with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+.
