Four weeks ago, the UMB baseball team was in the middle of a four game winning streak. Right after that, the Beacons went on a stretch of losing seven of eleven, including a 17-9 thrashing at UMass Dartmouth and a 12-8 loss at Rhode Island College. What exactly happened after those games? Beacon head coach Brenden Eygabroat expressed his answer focused on his defense.
“Our defense needs to play clean for us to be successful. The games we have lost this season have been games where we haven’t played strong defense. If we can limit mistakes and play to our ability on defense I think this team has the ability to get hot. If we continue to play inconsistent on defense then we will continue to struggle.”
Since Patriots Day, the Beacons have once again caught fire and are 4-1 in their last five games.
An instrumental part in this turnaround has been number three hitter Ryan Walsh. The senior second basemen went an impressive 8-21 (.381) with 2 homeruns and 12 runs batted in. Helping out Walsh has been the first basemen and cleanup hitter Conner Reinfurt, who over the same stretch has gone 5-16 (.312) with 2 RBIs while playing excellent defense.
When asked about his middle of the order hitters, Coach Eygabroat had this to say. “Walsh and Reinfurt have really started hitting the ball well the last two weeks. Both of them are very gifted hitters who can hit both for average and power. We will need them to continue to produce.”
Besides the bats coming back alive, the pitching has been impressive as well. Although the scores do not indicate it, over the past five games the starters have only given up 9 earned runs in 30 2/3 innings pitched. That is to the tune of a 2.64 ERA. Having an excellent performance the last time around was James Dalton. The junior southpaw went 8 1/3 innings in his last start while giving up just 4 runs in a tough defeat to against Keene St.
Eygabroat has done everything but say his LEC pitcher of the year and 3rd team All-American is his ace.
“Dalton has really pitched well his last three starts. He had some control issues down in FL and has made some adjustments and has gone back to what made him so successful in the past. He is a competitor and will give us a chance to win each of his starts the rest of the season.”
The Beacons have 5 upcoming games this week, starting Tuesday against Roger Williams and concluding with a double header against Plymouth State on Saturday.