UMass baseball: Dayton holds off Minutemen 4-1 in opening round of Atlantic 10 tourney

Staff Report

Published: 05-21-2024 9:27 PM

Playing in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament for the first time in 12 years, the UMass baseball team dropped their opening game in the double-elimination event on Tuesday night.

Third-seeded Dayton erased a 1-0 deficit and got past No. 6 UMass, 4-1, in the opening round of the event at Capital One Park in Tysons Corner, Va.

The Minutemen, which have racked up their most wins in program history since 2009, dropped to 24-28 overall. They will play No. 7 Saint Joseph’s in an elimination game on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Dayton will play No. 2 VCU in a winner’s bracket game on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Carter Hanson’s RBI single staked UMass to a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning. Dayton rallied with a run in the home half of the sixth, then took the lead for good when Alejandro Cazorla launched a two-run home run with two outs to make it 3-1.

The Flyers tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth, and held on for the 4-1 win.

UMass pitcher Leif Bigelow threw well, striking out eight while walking just two on four hits and three runs in seven innings of work.

The Minutemen managed just four hits on the night, including a single from Granby’s Michael Toth. Dayton pitching racked up 11 strikeouts.

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UMass will now play a Saint Joseph’s club that the Minutemen went 3-0 against during the regular season. UMass swept a home series in Amherst in late April, though two of the three wins were one-run contests.