Nicholas Solorzano single handily led UMass-Lowell to a three game America East baseball sweep over Maine at Mahaney Diamond on Sunday afternoon. Solorzano hit two-run homers in the seventh inning and in the ninth for a 5-4 Riverhawks victory.
Solorzano had all five RBI, as earlier in the game in the fourth inning he had given UMass-Lowell a 1-0 lead with a RBI double. Maine came alive with three runs in the fifth on a Quinn Murphy RBI single, a Nick Pepe RBI sacrifice fly, and Murphy scored on a wild pitch. Hunter St. Denis made it 4-1 Black Bears with a solo homerun in the sixth inning. But starting pitcher Thomas Stabley surrendered the two-run homer to Solorzano in the seventh, and then with two outs in the ninth closer Sebastian Holt couldn’t close it out as Solorzano on a 2-2 pitch went deep again. The Black Bears got a two out baserunner in their last at bat when Albert De La Rosa singled, but then Murphy grounded out to end it. Solorzano had three of the seven hits and all five RBI in the victory for UMass-Lowell, while Cal Chance added two hits. Brian Foley (2-3) pitched 3.1 inning of scoreless relief to pick up the win for the Riverhawks (19-27, 9-12 America East). De La Rosa had two hits for Maine in the defeat, while Holt (1-2) would suffer the pitching loss. It is the fourth time this season that the Black Bears have been swept in a series (the first time in America East), with the others all coming early in the season in road non-conference games (at Winthrop, at Dayton, at Nebraska). Maine (17-30, 11-10) will host a non-conference game vs Merrimack on Tuesday at 2 p.m., before closing out the regular season (Thursday-Saturday) with a three game league series vs Albany.
Photo from UMaine Athletics
