Baseball Tops UMass with Late Rally in Game One

Saturday, March 12

Tampa, FL

4:30 PM

Army West Point

4-8

Massachusetts

0-4

UMass

Army West Point

Baseball Tops UMass with Late Rally in Game One

March 13, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

TAMPA, Fla. – The Army West Point baseball team opened up its spring training trip to Florida with a thrilling win in game one of a doubleheader against Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon from Tampa Jesuit High School. The Black Knights scored three in the sixth of seven innings to steal a 6-5 win from the Minutemen.

The scoring opened in the home half of the first when senior John McCarthy blasted a 2-0 fastball over the left field wall for his third homerun of the season.

"Johnny really got us going there in the first game with the homerun," said head coach Matt Reid.

The Black Knights (4-8) put up another run in the second after a leadoff double by Stu Schley missed going over the wall by about a foot. After being sacrificed over, Schley scored on a single from Josh White. Both Schley and White paced the Black Knights offensively in game one with two hits apiece.

"Stu really came up with some big hits for us today," added Reid. "Josh had a really nice doubleheader today as well. He silently had four hits."

UMass (0-4) answered in the top of the third when John Jennings capitalized on a 2-0 heater, planting it onto the football field beyond the left field wall. That was the lone blemish for starter Jeremy Mortensen in the first three innings as he fanned six in that time. His control got away from the right-hander in the fourth, however, yielding four runs in the inning.

He was relieved by Patrick Gardner who provided a key two and two-third innings to keep Army in the game. Gardner utilized his defense to keep the Minutemen off the board as an inning-ending double play stopped the bleeding in the fourth.

"Patrick really kept us in the game, and then the guys fought back," Reid commented. "We had some absolutely big double plays. The double play to stop their rally prevented a run, and that ended up being the difference."

With time running out in the first game, Army fought its way to a three-run sixth to take a late lead. A one-out single by Schley got things started before a double to left by White would put two men in scoring position. A walk by Jake Clark loaded the bases for pinch-hitter Matt Hudgins. Hudgins battled his way through the at-bat with two strikes before shooting the ball to center field. The runners were off at the crack of the bat, darting around the bases after an error from UMass.

For more information on Army West Point baseball, visit goarmywestpoint.com and follow @ArmyWP_Baseball on twitter.