River Hawks Knock off Radford, 7-6

RADFORD, Va. – Behind strong performances from a pair of freshmen, the UMass Lowell baseball held off Radford for its first comeback victory of 2019 with a 7-6 decision on Tuesday evening.

Andrew Roden (Sherill, N.Y.) picked up three hits and drove in one, while Joshua Becker (Burlington, Mass.) earned his first career victory with four innings of relief, striking out four and allowing two runs.

“It was a great team win,” remarked Head Coach Ken Harring. “Henry {Funaro} was under the weather and gave us what he could for three innings. {Joshua} Becker was very good over the final four innings to earn his first win, it was a feel good moment for the walk-on who has been our best bullpen arm. Our offense was very good top to bottom with a ton of quality at-bats, as well.”

For the third consecutive contest, UMass Lowell broke onto the scoreboard first, as Steven Passatempo (Medford, Mass.) sent his third home run of the season over the fence in right.

The Highlanders (4-11) knotted the score in the bottom of the first, but Oscar Marchena (Miami, Fla.) gave the lead right back with a single in the second. With two runs in the third and one in the fourth, the hosts jumped ahead 4-2 until the sixth frame.

Robert Gallagher and Mark Tumosa (Willington, Conn.) delivered a run-scoring single and a RBI on a fielder’s choice, respectively, to draw even at 4-4. Kyle Maurice’s (Exeter, N.H.) sacrifice fly scored Cam Climo (Billerica, Mass.) to give the River Hawks the lead for good in the seventh. Roden’s RBI single added a key insurance run that the visitors would need as they took a 7-4 advantage.

Trailing 7-4, Radford threatened to force extras with two runs in the final two innings, including a homer in the ninth but Becker was able to close the door for the victory.

The short two-game set wraps up tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m.