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This was exactly the kind of weekend that the UMass Lowell River Hawks (8-20, 3-6) baseball team was looking for. A three-game sweep, in which they scored 42 runs and banged out 43 hits capped off with the 16-3 win on Sunday. The River Hawks received good starting pitching all weekend long and played better in the field. It all added up to a good holiday weekend at Lelacheur Park for the River Hawks. The same can not be said for the Bryant Bulldogs (13-14, 4-5) who came into this series playing pretty good baseball themselves. However, their pitching was not very good, and they could not score enough runs to make up for it. Bryant heads back to Smithfield, RI with some things to work on this week.
On Sunday, all of Bryant’s offense came from three solo home runs. In the second by RF Brian Schaub (his 6th of the year), in the sixth by 2B Jake Gustin (his 3rd of the year), and in the ninth by DH Greg Gorman (his 1st of the year). If you are going to give up long balls, that is the way to do it. Meanwhile, the River Hawks just pounded the baseball against seven Bulldogs pitchers. Everyone in the starting lineup except for 1B Connor Kelly had at least one hit. Kelly did drive in a run with a sac fly in the fourth. Catcher Ryan Proto had a big day at the plate for the River Hawks with a 4-for-5, 2 RS, 4 RBI day. 1B Matt Tobin, SS Fritz Genther, CF Gerry Siracusa, and 2B Jacob Humphrey all had a two-hit day. Tobin also drove in 4 runs and Siracusa brought home three. The River Hawks matched their number of runs (16) with their number of hits (16) That kind of well-balanced offense will win you a ton of games, and the River Hawks are now riding a four-game winning streak.
Let’s not forget the pitching staff for UMass Lowell. Three good starting outings. On Sunday, freshmen Nick DiRito (2-2) got the ball and did his job. Six innings of four-hit, two earned baseball, with two walks and three strikeouts. Yes, he did give up a couple of home runs but both were of the solo variety. He recorded eight fly ball outs and six ground ball outs. He threw 101 pitches 58 for strikes but did fatigue in the sixth. It was by far the best outing of his early college career. The bullpen also did its job, Jacob Jette, Zach Rodgers, and Michael Simes combined to throw three innings allowing one earned run, one hit, a walk, and two strikeouts.
After the game, head coach UMass Lowell Ken Harring was pleased with the series. All weekend he thought his lineup did a good job of “making Bryant pitches put the ball in the zone.” He said the past two weeks have been rough for his team. They were starting to question “who we are.” The coach’s favorite saying is “Dubs need to be duds” and this weekend that was on target. On Tuesday afternoon, the River Hawks will play their only mid-week game when they head to Merrimack to take on the Warriors. From there they will head to UAlbany for a three-game set next weekend against a struggling Great Danes team. Ken Turner (2-2) the first of the seven Bryant pitchers was the losing hurler on Sunday. He lasted three innings and allowed six hits and six earned runs.
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[…] to do. They are not the only team that is heading in the right direction at the moment. The UMass Lowell River Hawks are showing signs of righting their ship with the second half of the season right around the […]