River Hawks Fall to UAlbany, 4-1, in Regular Season Finale

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ALBANY, N.Y. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (25-28, 15-15 AE) fell to the UAlbany Great Danes (22-25, 11-19 AE) by a score of 4-1 on Saturday afternoon. The River Hawks close the regular season with another series win.

“It was one of those days offensively. We just didn’t string any hits together,” said head coach Ken Harring. “I’m very proud of this team. We won seven out of ten series we played this season, and we are a very dangerous team heading into the tournament.”

Sophomore Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) led the team with two hits and one RBI on the afternoon. Junior Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) tallied one hit and one run. On the mound, graduate student Ryan Towle (Westfield, Mass.) got the start and threw 4.1 innings, striking out six. Senior Matt Draper (Lowell, Mass.) threw 3.1 innings and struck out three.

Ryan Towle got off to a great start as the graduate student struck out two and picked off a runner at first in the first inning. The River Hawks opened the scoring in the second inning as Fritz Genther doubled down the right-field line, scoring Ryan Proto from first for a 1-0 lead. UAlbany answered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring twice to take the lead. The hosts added two in the third for a 4-1 advantage.

UMass Lowell went down in order in the fourth, still trailing by three. Ryan Towle struck out two in a 1-2-3 bottom half of the inning to move the game into the fifth. With two on and one out in the bottom of the fifth, Matt Draper entered the game in relief of Towle. The senior struck out two to end the inning. The River Hawks were unable to chip away at the lead in the sixth, but Draper threw a scoreless inning to keep the deficit to three.

In the seventh, the River Hawks had runners on the corners but left both runners stranded as the inning ended with UAlbany still leading 4-1. Draper’s scoreless inning kept UMass Lowell within striking distance. However, the River Hawks went down in order in the top of the eighth. Henry Funaro came into the game for Draper with two on and two out in the bottom half of the inning who forced a ground out to end the frame.

The River Hawks had one last chance to come back but were retired in order in the ninth. UAlbany took the final game of the weekend series 4-1. UMass Lowell wins the series 2-1 and will continue their season at the America East Championship next week.