River Hawks Rally in the Second for Saturday Split at Maine

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ORONO, Maine – The UMass Lowell baseball team split a pair of America East games at Maine on Saturday afternoon at Mahaney Diamond. The River Hawks narrowly dropped the opener 3-2, before coming back for a 6-4 victory in the second.

Catchers Jimmy Sullivan (East Hampton, Conn.) and Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) both batted .500 on the day to lead the squad’s offense. Sophomore Keagan Calero (Rochester, N.H.), went 3-for-7 (.429) with a team-best two RBI, while junior Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.) hit .250 with a team-leading two runs scored.

On the mound for Lowell, Polichetti tossed five innings, fanning four straight batters and allowed just one hit in game one. Senior Ryan Towle (Westfield, Mass.) came on in relief to strikeout one, giving up one hit and two runs. Sophomore Cam Seguin (Woburn, Mass.) did the work in game two, picking up the win in seven innings with four strikeouts.

The aces for both teams – Lowell’s Polichetti and the Black Bears’ Nick Sinacola (10-4) – matched zeroes to open the weekend series until the River Hawks found their footing in the top of the second. Sophomore Cedric Rose (Pittsfield, Mass.) saw the visitors first tally after he pushed a double to right, followed by a sac fly in the same spot by freshman Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.) for the 1-0 advantage.

Deepening the deficit in the top of the fourth inning, Gallagher belted a 3-2 offering down the left field line for his second three-bagger of the season. The junior would then cross the plate after an errant pitch to the backstop by Sinacola for a 2-0 cushion.

Both teams’ pitching staff kept hitters off balance through the remaining innings of the opener, backed by four consecutive 1-2-3 showings. A sixth-inning highlight came from Calero, Hernandez, and Joey Castellanos (Nutley, N.J.), extinguishing the Black Bear offense in a 6-4-3 double play.

Although, the home team would come alive in their last at-bat on a bases-loaded opportunity, chipping away 2-1 off a walk. A line drive single to right center with two outs would be the finisher, driving in two Black Bears to lift the hosts to the walk-off win.

The River Hawks took advantage of their first trip to the plate in game two, as Gallagher led off with a walk and would eventually score on the Black Bear’s second wild pitch of the day.

Seguin preserved his squad’s slight edge in the bottom, striking out the first Maine batter he faced backed by two putouts from redshirt-senior Cam Climo (Billerica, Mass.) in center to keep the score 1-0. Adding to their total in the second, the River Hawks would see another leadoff walk, this one forced by Hernandez, followed by a sac fly from Climo to bring in the second basemen for a 2-0 edge.

Maine’s next trip to the dish would prove to be a little too much for the visiting River Hawks, after a sacrifice bunt and a RBI triple down the right-field line from Scout Knotts provided the 2-2 tying run. The Black Bears would extend their buffer even further in the bottom of the fifth, scoring on a two-run triple shot to right, pushing their lead to 4-2.

After another 1-2-3 inning, backed by Seguin’s third knockout of the outing, the River Hawks would put together a commanding seventh inning performance, with four runs on three hits to claw their way back in the game. The squad loaded the bases thanks to a single to center by Sullivan and back-to-back walks from senior Vinnie Martin (Lodi, N.J.) and Climo. Sullivan would cross the plate after Rose tagged a line drive to left, while Martin and Climo followed off the hands of a Calero single to right for the 5-4 advantage. Hernandez would tack on the River Hawks last run of the inning on a hard-hit ball to short, advancing Proto for his second RBI of the day.

The Black Bears threatened with a single to right in the bottom of the eighth, but Climo ended their at-bat with another grab in center. Maine faced the same situation in the ninth, this time sending a double to right, however, Castellanos was there with the finishing play in foul territory to seal the 6-4 decision.

The two squads will close out their series against each other tomorrow afternoon with the first pitch slated for 12 p.m.