UMass Lowell Gets Swept by NJIT in Saturday Doubleheader

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It is great to see baseball back at LeLacheur Park. After playing their first seventeen games on the road, the UMass Lowell Riverhawks (6-13, 5-5) were looking to take advantage of the home cooking. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out the way the home team had hoped. The NJIT Highlanders (6-12, 5-7) had other ideas and by the time the series was over, they would leave Lowell taking three out of four including a sweep of Saturday’s doubleheader by scores of 7-3 in game one and 9-5 in game two.

The Riverhawks played the entire day uphill and their coach, Ken Harring, said as much when the twin-bill was over. He was not happy with the “physical mistakes” the team made in both games. Errors in the field and baserunning lapses contributed to the lost day. He was quick to point out that credit should be given to the Highlanders for being ready to play, something that the Riverhawks head man was not sure his team was. He took the blame for that and also said “we need to practice better.”

Game one starting pitcher for Lowell was Colin Duffley (0-4) who despite looking for his first win of the season, has pitched well. He has also pitched in some tough luck as the offense has not supplied him with many runs in his starts. On Saturday, Duffley could only last four innings of the scheduled seven innings of game one. He was never able to stay out of trouble as he would allow runs in three of the four innings he worked. In the first, a leadoff double by Albert Choi started things for NJIT. He would be sacrificed to third and scored on a groundout by Julio Marcano, part of a three-RBI game one for him, 1-0 Highlanders. Lowell would take the lead in the second against NJIT starter Tyler Staffinger who was also seeking his first win of the season. Cam Climo began the inning with a double down the left-field line. The next man in the order, Gerry Siracusa, drove him in with a base hit to right to tie the game. Siracusa was brought home on a double to right by Ryan Proto. Lowell had a 2-1 lead.

NJIT took the lead back, on a triple to right field by Marcano that plated two Highlanders baserunners to make it 3-2 in the third. Siracusa drove in his second run of game one in the third with an infield single that scored Climo who earlier ripped his second double to left. It was 3-3 after three. The Highlanders would finish off game one by scoring single runs in the fourth, fifth, and two in the seventh versus Duffley and relief pitcher Sal Fusco. Meanwhile, NJIT received five good innings from Staffinger (1-3), who then handed over the baseball to Jake Rappaport who took care of the rest of the game by throwing two innings of one-hit no run ball to pick up his third save of the season.

Game two didn’t start any better for Lowell. Ryan Towle (0-1) got the start and quickly fell into a 4-0 hole. To be fair, it was not all his complete doing. A dropped popup by UMass Lowell second baseman Robby Hernandez plated two of the runs that NJIT put up in the first inning. By the time the top of the fifth was over with, the Highlanders had a 7-0 advantage.

Their game two starter was cruising right along. Jared Kacso (1-1) did not give up a hit until the fifth when Siracusa reached him for a single to left, Proto also singled to left. They would both score on a single to left by leadoff hitter Robert Gallagher. It would make the score 7-2 at that point. Lowell chipped away at the Highlanders lead by getting two in the seventh. Pinch-hitter Nick Marola struck a double down the right-field line to make it a 7-4 game off relief pitcher Aaron Park.

Lowell made it a 7-5 game on a sac-fly by Proto that would plate Climo. That run came across off of the third pitcher for NJIT Evan Gegeckas in the eighth. But as was the case all day, NJIT would have the answer. A two-run ninth off of the Riverhawks third pitcher of the day Henry Funaro would complete the scoring. Rappaport would come on in the eighth and pitch another inning and a third to pick up his second save of the day, and his fourth of the year. Game two went to NJIT 9-5 and gave them a sweep to take three out of four on the weekend.

UMass Lowell returns to LeLacheur Park next weekend to take on Stony Brook.