UMass Lowell and Brown spilt a Doubleheader

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A cool mid-week late Tuesday afternoon and evening saw the UMass Lowell River Hawks and the Brown Bears play two at LeLacheur park. The first game featured a combined 14 walks by both teams with the River Hawks throwing 10 of them. The result was an 8-7 win for Brown. The second game was a different story as starting pitching by the home team along with timely hitting gave the River Hawks a split of the DH winning game two 3-0.

UMass Lowell’s game one starter Ricky Constant got off to a rocky start by hitting leadoff hitter Rob Henry with the first pitch of the game. Henry moved to second on a walk to Sam Grigio. Brown then showed off their speed as both runners executed a double steal. The move would pay off as Josh Huntley grounded to third plating Henry giving the Bears a 1-0 lead.

UMASS Lowell jumped on Brown starter Calvin Farris as Ben Prada got things going by singling to RF and went to second when Oscar Marchena was hit by a pitch. They both would score ahead of Chris Sharpe who whacked one over the wall in left for his team-leading seventh home run of the season, 3-1 River Hawks. They were not done as Colby Maiola singled to right and one out later Freshman Cam Clinio drove him in with a base hit to CF making it 4-1 after the first.

The lead would not last past the next half inning, as Willy Homza started the second the same way the first began by reaching base on a HBP. Next batter Garett Delano doubled to RF sending Homza to third and he would come around to score when the ball was misplayed by right fielder Michael Young, 3-2 River Hawks. After a walk, light hitting Rich Ciufo singled sharply to CF scoring Delano tying the game at three. After another walk to Henry, Coach Ken Harring was forced to make a pitching change. Out was Constant in was Jeffery Peterson, who gave up a sac fly to the first man he faced scoring Rosander to once again tie the game at four. A second sac fly, this time by Marc Sredojevic, scored Ciufo giving the Bears the lead back at 5-4.

In the River Hawks fourth, they got the lead back against relief pitcher Bobby Lehman once again with a leadoff walk that started the trouble this time to the number nine hitter Michael Young. It was followed by back to back base hits by Prada and Marchena, his hit being an RBI scoring Young, game tied for the third time in three-plus inning this time at 5-5. It did not stay tied for long as two batters later first baseman Steve Passatempo drove one down the LF line. It hit the foul pole for a two-run shot his third of the campaign, UMass Lowell back in front 7-5.

The advantage lasted only until the top half of the fifth took
place. Relief pitcher Kendall Pomeroy for the River Hawks walks Homza, a single by Henry moves him to third, Henry ends up on second as he advances on throw. They both get driven in by a single to LF by Sam Grigo, and for the fourth time, the game is tied this time at 7-7.

In the seventh, UMass Lowell gave up the lead for good as Luke Tomczyk comes on and after the first batter is retired, he gives up a single to Grigo followed by a double by a Huntley scoring Grigo all the way from first, 8-7 Brown. In the bottom of the inning, Reid Anderson was called in to shut the door and he did to pick up his first save of the year, game one goes to Brown 8-7.

Game two was all about pitching as the River Hawks got a combined three-hit shutout from Freshman starter Connor Metelski and two relievers to split the twin bill by winning game two 3-0. Metelski was the story going five innings giving up only three hits while striking out five. He has not allowed an earned runs in 11.2 innings of work, an outing like this one should give him more chances on the bump. The River Hawks scored in two frames to seal the win. In the third Ted Leathersich singled off pitcher Sam Grigo’s leg and he moved to third when second baseman Cameron Deere made a throwing error trying to start a double play on a ball hit by Ben Prada. He would score on a ground out by Oscar Marchena, 1-0 home team.

In the fifth, the River Hawks extended the lead on Grigo as back to back base on balls to Leathersich and Prada gave Chris Sharpe another opportunity to drive in runs and he delivered with a sharp ground ball past the dive of third baseman Willy Homza scoring both runners and giving Sharpe five RBI for the double header, 3-0 UMass-Lowell.

The only thread Brown could muster came in the 6th when David Hoar II came on to pitch for the River Hawks and gave up consecutive walks. He would be replaced by Closer Nick Rand who walked the first man he faced. With the base loaded he got the next two hitters, Garett Delano on a fielder choice 5-2 and then got Rich Ciufo looking to end the frame. He would retire the Bears in order in the seventh to get save number six on the season.

The two seven-inning games left Brown with an overall record of 11-18, while the River Hawks improved to 19-14, as they get ready to begin a four-game road trip with conference games this weekend VS UMBC.