Towson Tigers Tame Revolutionary Rival, Defeat UMass 20-15 in Offensive Showcase

By: Tommy Pelle, Deputy Sports Editor

If I had a nickel for each time the Towson Tigers beat a team named after people from the American Revolution in the past week, I would have two nickels, which is not a lot, but it is weird it happened twice.

On March 19, the Towson Tigers hosted the UMass Minutemen in their final game before conference play. In a barnburner, the Tigers beat the Minutemen 20-15.

“We missed the extra point, if we could’ve held them to two point-after touchdowns instead of that two-point conversion we would’ve been a lot better off,” joked Head Coach Matt Tyner. “Anything that found the white part of the plate, either side was able to put a barrel on it.”

As you could probably tell from the final tally, scoring happened early and often. 

Brady Nathison got things kicked off in the bottom of the second. On the first pitch of the half-inning, Nathison launched a 410-foot homer to left field, his first of the season. Towson proceeded to move station to station, with Jordan Peyton, Max D’Alessandro, Brian Heckelman, Nathison, again, and Ben Nugent each plating more runs for the Tigers, creating a 8-1 lead.

Towson was not done yet in the second. Third baseman Ethan Brand kept the party going with a 3-run homer to left to grow the Towson lead to 11-1. That was Brand’s first home run for the Tigers. When the dust settled, the Tigers 11 runs were the most they have scored in a single inning all year. 

For the moment, this game was shaping up to be a repeat of last week’s game against George Washington. Unfortunately, the Minutemen would put up much more of a fight. 

Across the third, fourth and fifth innings, the Minutemen would score nine unanswered runs thanks to two home runs from UMass designated hitter Jared Muñoz and another home run from right fielder Carter Hanson. After the top of the fifth, the Tigers lead had been cut to 11-10.

In the bottom of the fifth, Towson’s designated hitter D’Alessandro would respond to Muñoz. A 3-run homer to left field, that left the bat at 108 mph, pushed the Tigers cushion to four at 14-10. That home run was D’Alessandro’s 7th homer of the year and raised his RBI tally to 21. 

“Our pitching staff has done such a great job of keeping us in baseball games, it’s about time the offense turned around the paper,” said Tyner.

The Tigers hot bats continued to torment UMass pitching. In the bottom of the sixth, Nathison hit another leadoff home run for his second jack of the day. In the bottom of the seventh, right fielder Taye Robinson and pinch hitter Cole Stefano would get in on the action, plating another two runs. Brand and Nathison would add to their RBI tallies as well, growing the Towson lead to 19-11. 

While the Minutemen were able to add more runs to their total in the top of the eighth and ninth innings, they would not be able to topple the Tigers, as Towson would hold on to win their seventh game of the year 20-15.

Towson’s best player was Max D’Alessandro, who fell a triple shy of the cycle. D’Alessandro went 6-6, tying the all-time school record for hits in a game by a player. D’Alessandro scored 4 runs, 5 RBIs, stole a base and raised his batting average 71 points to .411 on the season.

“I’ve played the game of baseball for a long, long time, and I’ve heard about people getting six hits. I’ve never seen it” said Tyner. “He’s that kind of guy that every time he swings the bat the ball can go out of the year.”

Kudos are also in order for Brady Nathison and Ethan Brand. Nathison finished 3-4 with 4 runs, 3 RBIs and 2 dingers. Nathison is 6-8 over his past two games.  Brand was also just a triple shy of the cycle, finishing 4-5 with 3 runs and 4 RBIs.

“We needed one of these to reinforce what kind of team we have the capacity to be,” said Tyner. 

The Tigers kick off CAA play this weekend, March 22, in Boston against the Northeastern Huskies, who are expected to be one of the best teams in the conference this year.

“They put their pants on just like we do,” said Tyner. “We’re going up there to frigid temperatures again… it’ll be a test of the brain. Can you play in that kind of pressure? Can you play in that kind of weather? … If we can do that, I’d like to think we got a shot to take a couple of games up there.”