The UMBC Baseball team will look to open the 2024 season on a high note when it travels to defending WCC champion Santa Clara for a three game series beginning on Friday night.

First pitch on Friday is slated for 9:05 p.m. EST, followed by a 4:05 start on Saturday and a 3:05 start on Sunday.

Retriever Notes

• 2023 was a season to remember as UMBC's 16-8 record was its best in 20 years of America East Conference play. The 16 wins were the most AE wins ever (14 in 2015), while eight were the fewest losses ever in AE (9 in 2017).
•  UMBC baseball team secured the No. 2 seed in the America East Tournament. They opened tournament play with a 7-3 win over host Binghamton, but fell, 3-1, to top-seeded Maine and were eliminated, 7-1, by Binghamton.
•  The Retrievers finished with a record of 30-27, the program's first 30-win season since 2015 and fifth all-time at the NCAA Division I level.
•  Seven members of the team earned All-Conference honors and four of those players return in 2024.  
• Rising senior Luke Johnson (Lewes, Delaware) was named America East Pitcher of the Year, while then record-setting freshman Leewood Molessa (Pullman, W.Va.) earned Rookie of the Year honors.
•  Johnson is the second Retriever ever to be named America East Pitcher of the Year (Conrad Wozniak, 2015), while Molessa is the third Retriever to be named Rookie of the Year, and first since Christian Torres (2017).  It is only the second time UMBC earned both the America East Pitcher and Rookie of the Year (2015).
• In conference play, Johnson went 4-0 led the America East with a 2.65 ERA and 58 strikeouts. In 51.0 innings pitched, he allowed just 15 earned runs, while opponents batted a paltry .196 against him. He also pitched a pair of complete games. He was selected to D1Softball's Top 150 Starting Pitchers list, coming in at #114.
• Molessa burst on to the scene by setting a UMBC record for RBI in a season (65), and blasted 16 homers (one shy of the school-record). In America East play, he slashed .305/.642/1.029 with 30 RBI, and tied for the AE lead with nine homers. He was also tabbed to the 2023 Collegiate Freshman All-American Team. 
• Johnson was named to the All-Conference First Team and was joined on it by outfielder Justin Taylor (Reston, Va.). Taylor batted .409 in America East play, the third-best total in the AE. In 24 AE games, he added two homers, 17 RBI and had more walks (15) than strikeouts (13). He also was sensational in center field, making several incredible defensive plays.
•  Molessa and designated hitter Luke Trythall (Poolesville, Md.) earned America East Second Team honors.
•  Twenty letterwinners return to the Head Coach Liam Bowen's club, including six position players that started the final game of the 2023 season. They are joined by 13 freshmen and a pair of transfers. Eighteen pitchers are listed, 13 righties and five southpaws.
• The 2024 50-game schedule features 25 contests at home and 25 on the road, including the program's first ever trip to both California (Santa Clara, Feb. 23-25) and Texas (Lamar, March 8-10). The Retrievers welcome Yale for three games (March 16-17), which includes a doubleheader at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium (Aberdeen, Md.) on Saturday, March 16.
•  Head Coach Liam Bowen enters his fourth full season at the helm. He sports a record of 78-104, but last year's squad posted the program's first winning campaign since 2016. 

Scouting the Opponent 

• The Broncos started their season last weekend at Arizona State, dropping the first two games of the series, before picking up a 14-13 win on Sunday
• Santa Clara is led by JonJon Berring, who pulled in another accolade Tuesday for his outstanding opening weekend performance, being named the Dick Howser Trophy National Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association for the week of Feb. 12-18. 
• Berring earned the season's first West Coast Conference Player of the Week award on Monday and followed it up with the national recognition. 
• He ranked among the nation's top-10 in eight offensive categories after opening weekend. He hit a nation-leading four home runs in three road games at Arizona State and collected 13 RBIs (third in the country), including a career-high six in Sunday's 14-13 win. Berring slugged 1.467 while batting .533 (8 for 15) and carrying an on-base percentage of .563. 
• Six of his eight base hits went for extra bases, and his 22 total bases were tops in Division I. 
• He also ranked among the country's top-10 over the weekend in RBIs per game (3rd, 4.33), home runs per game (3rd, 1.33), runs scored per game (5th, 2.67), total runs scored (7th, 8), and slugging percentage (10th). 
• Santa Clara went 36-20 in 2023 with a 17-10 record in conference play. 
• They won the West Coast Conference Tournament to earn their first NCAA Tournament berth in 26 years 

All-Time Series

• This is the first time the Retrievers and Broncos will meet on The Diamond