University of Massachusetts Amherst: UMass baseball prepares for weekend series against Dayton

Dylan Podlinski Daily Collegian (2025) After a difficult Beanpot loss against Harvard on Tuesday, the Massachusetts baseball team is preparing to get back on track against the Dayton Flyers. Although UMass (9-13-1, 3-6 Atlantic 10) is on a three-game skid, there have been positives. Recently, the Minutemen have shown their ability to fight hard late in games. In Saturday's loss to Rhode Island, UMass scored five runs late in the game, ultimately giving the team a fighting chance. In the Harvard loss, the Minutemen were down 9-1 heading into the eighth inning, where they put together a rally to cut the deficit in half. UMass hopes to take the late game momentum towards a pivotal series against Dayton (14-17, 4-5 A-10), who have won three out of four. The Flyers don't contain a pitching tandem like Robbie O'Connor and Callen Powers, but they make up for it and more with their bats. Dayton has three players in the top 15 for batting average in the A-10, as well as five in the top 50. Dyrenson Wouters has led the way all year for the Flyers. He is currently hitting .474 with an OPS of 1.346 in conference play. Getting on base is his primary forte, where he ranks fourth in the A-10 for overall on-base percentage. His teammates, Michael Dimartini and Ryan Lujo aren't far behind Wouters in batting average and on-base percentage. Dimartini and Lujo are experts in the base-hit department, both ranking in the top three in hits in the A-10 this season. Lujo also sits at fourth for home runs in conference play. The challenge for the Minutemen is to respond to what Dayton has to offer. A guy that has been performing well of late is Marc Willi. He finished the Harvard game close to perfect, with three hits and a walk. UMass' offensive output has struggled to stay consistent throughout the year. Through its first 23 games, the team has scored five runs or less eight times, and its ability to get the bats going early has faltered of late, as its opponents have scored first in three straight. Willi and the offense will take on a Dayton pitching staff that is vulnerable. The Flyers rank No. 8 in earned run average and No. 9 in opponent batting average for conference play. They have also allowed 16 home runs on the year, something that Jack Beverly will try to take advantage of. Beverly has been one of the Minutemen's high-flyers of late. Since the start of conference play, Beverly is batting .333 with an OPS of 1.340. His six home runs throughout the season leads the team. Dayton's J.J. Gatti will be a challenge for Beverly. Gatti has proven to be the best arm that Dayton head coach Scott Loiseau has in his arsenal. His ability to throw high heat, while also possessing an effective off-speed pitch will be a difficult task for a Minutemen team that struggled against Harvard's off-speed pitches on Tuesday. Gatti leads his team in earned run average while also holding opponents to a .200 batting average. UMass' pitching staff, led by O'Connor and Powers, has held its own as well. Last Friday against URI, O'Connor pitched seven scoreless innings in the lone win of the series. His ability to be a "true ace," as coach Reynolds said at the beginning of the year, has been evident throughout. Powers, on the other hand, has been statistically just as good, if not better. He ranks No. 1 on the team in earned run average and has pitched the most for the Minutemen throughout the campaign. Expect to see both of the arms against a high-powered Dayton offense that has produced 58 runs in the last four games, which sits at an average of 14.5 per contest. The series begins on Friday, April 4 at 12 p.m. in Amherst. The game can be streamed on ESPN+. Zeke Altman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @EzekielAltman.