The Maine baseball team rallied for a late inning 5-2 win Friday night over UMass-Lowell, but the Riverhawks turned the tables on Saturday and Sunday afternoon by coming from behind to beat the Black Bears 11-10 and 14-9 respectively to take two of three in the America East series played at Edward A. LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Massachusetts.
On Saturday- After UMass-Lowell scored four times in the first inning for an early 4-0 lead, Maine responded with a three-run double in the second inning by Jeremiah Jenkins and then would plate seven runs in the fourth to take a 10-4 advantage. Will Burns had an RBI single, Jenkins an RBI double, and Nick White hit a three-run homerun to centerfield. Dean O’Neill and Colin Plante also added RBI singles during the big inning. The Riverhawks fought back though. Alex Luccini singled in a run in the bottom half of the fourth, and then in the sixth he singled in another and Carlos Martinez hit a two-run double to slice it to 10-8. An error in the seventh allowed another run to score to make it a one run game. That set up for some UMass-Lowell dramatics in their last at bat. Brandon Fish led off with a single, and was moved to second on a groundout by Roddy Hernandez. Fish would score to tie it on a single by Trey Brown, and then after a walk to Fritz Genther the Riverhawks walked it off on a single by Luccini to claim the 11-10 win. White had three hits and three RBI in the loss for Maine, while Jenkins had two hits and four knocked in. O’Neill, Plante, and Zach Martin each also collected two hits a piece. Jason Kreiger got a no-decision on the mound allowing eight runs on 12 hits with three walks and four strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Ryan Scott (1-2) suffered the loss in relief. Luccini and Genther each had four hits in the UML victory, with Luccini driving in four runs including the game winner. Martinez had two hits and three RBI, and Brown had two hits and two knocked in. Zach Fortuna (2-0) pitched the ninth inning and picked up the win.
On Sunday- UMass-Lowell took the series win by scoring right times in the seventh inning for a 14-9 victory. Maine never trailed over the first 6 1/2 frames. In a 1-1 game in the top of the third, Jenkins hit a two-run homerun to right field for a 3-1 Black Bears lead. Jake Marquez extended that advantage to three at 5-2 with a two-run single in the sixth. The guests led 6-4 heading to the bottom of the seventh when the wheels fell off. With one out, the Riverhawks worked three straight walks to load the bases. And then consecutively, Fish was hit by a pitch and Hernandez along with Brown both walked to push them in front for good 7-6. They capped off the big inning when Genther hit a two-run double, Luccini lifted an RBI sacrifice fly, and Martinez cranked a two-run homer to right centerfield. Noah Lewis got tagged with the pitching loss in relief of starter Luc Lavigueur. Lavigueur went the first 5.1 innings giving up four runs on 10 hits with three walks and one strikeout. Jenkins had three hits and two RBI, while Martin, Plante, and Jack Friend also added two hits each. Plante also had two RBI. Genther and Martinez had three hits each for UMass-Lowell. Genther drove in four runs, while Fish had three, and Martinez and Hernandez had two a piece. Fortuna (3-0) picked up his second relief win of the weekend. The Riverhawks improve to 14-19 overall and 6-5 in America East.
Maine is now 8-22 and 4-7 in conference play. The Black Bears will now play their next six games all in non-conference, beginning with a visit to Merrimack College on Wednesday at 4 p.m. They will then host Rider University out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Mahaney Diamond before a home and home the following week (Tuesday, Wednesday) with the Merrimack Warriors.
Recaps by Chris Lessner
