River Hawks Fall 6-3 in Series Finale at Maine

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ORONO, Maine – The UMass Lowell baseball team (4-20, 0-6 AE) fell to the Maine Black Bears (12-11, 6-0 AE) in the series finale at Mahaney Diamond on Saturday afternoon. Maine completes the series sweep with the win.

“Another tough weekend. Again, we just aren’t playing complete baseball,” said head coach Ken Harring. “I need to do a better job of getting these guys prepared, but we are going to continue to work and get better. We will be ready for Tuesday at Dartmouth and in our next conference series this weekend.”

Graduate student Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) had two hits and one RBI on the afternoon. Sophomore Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) tallied one RBI and one hit while senior Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) also tallied one RBI and one hit.

Freshman Nick DIRito (Plymouth, Mass.) got the start and threw 5.0 innings, striking out two and allowing three earned runs. Graduate student Joshua Becker (Burlington, Mass.) went 3.0 innings with four strikeouts and one earned run on three hits.

The Black Bears jumped out to an early 2-0 lead behind a two-run home run by Jeremiah Jenkins in the bottom of the first. UMass Lowell answered in the top of the third as Alex Luccini stayed hot with an RBI single to cut the lead. Gerry Siracusa’s leadoff double and Trey Brown’s walk put two on, but both were left stranded in the top of the fourth.

Sophomore Conor Kelly’s (Hopkinton, Mass.) two-out single to left field put a runner on for the River Hawks before Alex Luccini was hit by a pitch, putting the tying run at second. Gerry Siracusa came up with a big hit to right center to score Kelly and tie the game at two. Maine responded in the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run to retake the lead. DiRito picked up his second strikeout of the day to end the fifth.

With a series sweep looming, the River Hawks needed the offense to get moving. Junior Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) hit a leadoff single and stole second to put the tying run in scoring position in the top of the sixth. Ryan Proto’s double to deep left field brought in Genther from second to even the score once again.

A double down the right field line scored a runner from first to put the Black Bears back in front in the bottom of the sixth. Joshua Becker entered the game with a runner on second and nobody out. A two-run home run made it a 6-3 game. Conor Kelly made a line drive grab and diving play at first for the double play to end the seventh.

Joshua Becker struck out three straight hitters swinging in the eighth to send the game to the final frame with UMass Lowell trailing by three runs. Robert Gallagher drew a leadoff walk before senior Matt Tobin’s (Poland, N.Y.) base hit put two runners on with nobody out. The River Hawks’ offense couldn’t capitalize and fell in the series finale.

Next up, UMass Lowell will travel to Dartmouth for a midweek matchup before hosting a weekend series against Bryant.