River Hawks Fall to Hartford, 9-6, on Saturday Afternoon

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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The UMass Lowell River Hawks baseball team (22-26, 12-14 AE) fell to the Hartford Hawks (9-34, 8-18 AE) in game two of the weekend series by a score of 9-6 on Saturday afternoon.

“Tough one today. Cedric [Rose] had a huge home run in the top of the eighth that gave us the lead and they answered right back,” said head coach Ken Harring. “This ballpark plays small and pitch execution is key and we didn’t execute well enough. We have to come back tomorrow and win the series.”

Sophomore Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) led the team with two hits on the afternoon and added one run and one RBI. Freshman Jacob Humphrey (Standish, ME.) and senior Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.) each tallied two runs, one hit, and one RBI. Junior Cedric Rose (Pittsfield, Mass.) hit his eighth home run of the season and scored one run.

On the mound, graduate student Ryan Towle (Westfield, Mass.) got the start and threw 5.2 innings, striking out six and allowing five earned runs. Seniors Sal Fusco (Colonie, N.Y.) and Matt Draper (Lowell, Mass.) each threw 1.0 and tallied one strikeout each. Draper allowed four earned runs and three hits.

Robert Gallagher got the River Hawks on the board in the first inning with a solo shot to left field, his sixth home run of the season. The Hawks answered in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run home run to take a 2-1 lead. Hartford left two runners stranded on the corners as Towle struck out Rivera to end the inning. Fritz Genther’s ninth home run of the season, a solo shot to center, tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the second. Ryan Towle threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the second inning, picking up another strikeout to keep the game tied. The graduate student retired the side in order in the third as the game moved to the fourth still level.

Jacob Humphrey’s solo home run in the fourth, his second of the season, put UMass Lowell back in front 3-2. In the bottom half of the inning, Ryan Towle struck out Holmes to open the frame. With two on and two out, Cobb Jr. drilled a three-run shot to left, giving the Hawks a 5-3 lead. Sophomore Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.) entered the game in the bottom of the sixth in relief of Towle and forced a groundout with two on to escape the inning. The Hawks led 5-3 as the game moved to the seventh.

Sal Fusco took over in the seventh after a 1-2-3 top half of the inning from the River Hawks. The senior retired the side in order and struck out one to bring the River Hawks offense back to the plate. In the eighth, Humphrey and Gallagher got on base before a double steal put the runners on second and third. Freshman Brandon Fish’s (Londonderry, N.H.) sacrifice fly scored Humphrey and moved Gallagher to third to make it a 5-4 game. Cedric Rose then crushed a two-run home run to left-center to put the River Hawks back in front with a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom half of the frame.

Matt Draper took over on the bump for UMass Lowell in the bottom of the eighth. The senior picked up a strikeout before the Hawks tied the game with an RBI single up the middle before Donnie Cohoon’s three-run home run put Hartford ahead 9-6. The River Hawks went three up, three down in the ninth, and fell to the Hawks in game two of the weekend series.