AMHERST — Tied 2-2 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, a dormant UMass baseball offense needed a spark – its only two runs coming from Albany miscues.

Enter Mitchell Schroeder.

Minutemen head coach Matt Reynolds called on the graduate senior to pinch hit with a man on board and one out. Schroeder worked the count to two balls, two strikes before Albany pitcher Luke Boule threw him a pitch at the top of the zone that he liked. He took a cut at the fastball and sent it to right field, and by time he Schroeder got to first base the ball had sailed well over the fence for a two-run home run – giving UMass a 4-2 lead.

The Minutemen would add another pair of runs in the frame to double their lead and fended off a late Great Danes rally as they picked up a 6-3 victory at Earl Lorden Field in their home opener on Wednesday afternoon.

“I was just trying to get a good pitch I can handle,” Schroeder, a transfer from Division 3 Middlebury, said. “It’s been a bit of a process to start the year, obviously, jumping to this level. So, just trying to see the best pitch I can and put a barrel on it in that situation, especially with two strikes. Just trying to do something for the team.”

Reynolds joked that he knew Schroeder (who came in for Jared Munoz) would go yard when he called his number, but then praised his fifth-year senior for his approach at the plate and providing some juice to a rather quiet UMass offense.

“Jared had kind of struggled today, he’s been really good for us overall, but he just wasn’t really on it today,” Reynolds said. “So I just felt like I wanted to make a change there, and Mitch was the right guy in that spot… Thankfully he gave [us the lead]. We wanted to maintain our defense at that point and we felt like we had our best defense out there.”

Through six innings, the hosts held onto a 1-0 lead, its lone run coming from Jack Beverly, who scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the fourth. But in the top of the seventh, Albany finally got on the board.

On a 1-2 pitch with a runner on first, Logan Morris connected on a pitch from Dylan Terwilliger and sent it to center field. UMass center fielder Anthony Tirado trotted back to the warning track, but eventually ran out of room as he watched the ball go over his head and over the wall. Morris’ two-run shot put the Great Danes in front 2-1 through six and a half innings.

“[Terwilliger] kind of left a pitch over the middle of the plate, and [Morris] did a nice job with it,” Reynolds said. “But I thought we did a really good job [on the mound].”

UMass got one right back in the bottom half of the seventh, as Marc Willi ripped a double down the left-field line to lead off the frame. Jack Peters pinch ran for Willi, and advanced to third on a sacrifice fly from Michael Toth the very next batter. With Gavin O’Brien now at the dish, Peters dashed for home as a ball got away from Albany’s catcher. He slid home safely to knot it up at two.

Relief pitcher Jack Levine got UMass through the top of the eighth unscathed to put the pressure right back on Albany’s bullpen.

That’s when Schroeder struck.

After his home run, Boule hit a pair of UMass batters – perhaps rattled by Schroeder’s moonshot. Peters and Toth were given free passes thanks to Boule’s inaccuracy, then Tirado put the nail in the coffin with a line drive to right field which brought both base runners to the plate. All of a sudden the Minutemen’s offense had life, and they catapulted in front by four (6-2).

“It’s always important, especially for us,” Reynolds said. “We’ve had a couple opportunities, at Davidson we had a multi-run lead and lost it in the ninth, and we had a one-run lead at Fordham going into the ninth and lost it, so there’s never enough. Never enough. Got to keep getting [runs].”

Levine retired the first two Great Dane batters with a strikeout and ground out in the ninth, then the next four to come to the plate for Albany reached base. Only one came across to score as Levine got out of the jam to secure UMass’ first home win in as many attempts in 2025.

UMass (8-10-1) used four different pitchers on Wednesday, with Sam Belliveau getting the start. Belliveau went three scoreless innings, striking out three and giving up only one hit. Jason Blanchard relieved him and tossed a pair of scoreless frames with two strikeouts before Terwilliger and Levine closed things out. Levine earned the win, his second of the season.

The Minutemen return to action on Friday, hosting Atlantic 10 rival Rhode Island for a three-game weekend series – all of which come at Earl Lorden Field.