River Hawks Fall to NJIT 4-3 in Game One

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LITTLE FALLS, N.J. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (8-14, 1-2 AE) dropped game one of the weekend series to the NJIT Highlanders (9-15, 2-2 AE) on Friday night.

“I thought we got a really good effort from [Williams] and the bullpen. Against a really good arm like Kidd, you have to find ways to put the ball in play,” said head coach Nick Barese. “It came down to them getting one more big hit than us. We’ve been really good lately at grinding out at-bats and tomorrow is another opportunity for us to get back to our identity offensively.”

Freshman Scott Donahue (Medfield, Mass.) drew three walks and tallied one hit and one RBI. Juniors Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.) and Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) each tallied a hit. Luccini and graduate student Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) each had one RBI.

Senior Brendan Williams (Auburn, Mass.) fell to 1-4 after 6.0 innings. Williams struck out eight and allowed three earned runs. Freshman James Capellupo (Hilton, N.Y.) struck out two in 1.0 frame. Senior Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.) threw a scoreless ninth inning.

UMass Lowell had two stolen bases in the first inning and took an early lead with a two-out RBI single from Proto to score Luccini. Brendan Williams struck out one in a quick first inning.

The defense looked sharp early on with Luccini making a great catch in the bottom of the second after the ball was carried by tough winds. Senior Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.) relayed a throw to Proto to tag the NJIT runner at home to end the frame.

The Highlanders took the lead in the bottom of the fifth with three runs on two hits. NJIT tacked on another run in the sixth to push the lead to 4-1. The River Hawks’ offense struggled to find a rhythm but went into the eighth down by just three after James Capellupo struck out two to end the seventh.

Alex Luccini picked up an RBI in the eighth, reaching first on a fielder’s choice that scored Hernandez to make it 4-2. Capellupo retired the side to send the game to the ninth and give UMass Lowell another chance to get back in the game.

Ryan Proto advanced to second before Scott Donahue drilled one out to center field to bring in the graduate student and make it a one-run game. The River Hawks could not take advantage of the base runner and fell 4-3 in game one.

Game two is set for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 29 at the Yogi Berra Stadium.