River Hawks Drop Game Two at NJIT 10-2

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LITTLE FALLS, N.J. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (8-15, 1-3 AE) dropped game two of the weekend series against the NJIT Highlanders (10-15, 3-2 AE) 10-2 on Saturday afternoon.

“Just have to find a way to play better baseball,” said head coach Nick Barese. “We gave NJIT 10 free baserunners today as a pitching staff. It’s really hard to win when they have a guy on base for free every inning.”

Graduate student Miles Cota (Hampstead, NC) and sophomore Jacob Jette (Franklin, Mass.) each struck out three hitters. Freshmen Cam Sime (Pittsfield, Mass.) and James Capellupo (Hilton, N.Y.) saw time on the bump with Sime striking out one.

Senior Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) and junior Conor Kelly (Hopkinton, Mass.) each tallied two hits on the afternoon. Kelly added one run and one RBI while senior Trey Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) tallied one RBI. Freshman Scott Donahue (Medfield, Mass.) scored one run and knocked a triple.

UMass Lowell loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second inning after hits from Conor Kelly and Roddy Hernandez and a walk drawn by Brandon Fish. Trey Brown drew a walk to put the River Hawks in front 1-0 in the second.

Cota escaped a jam in the bottom half of the inning and tallied his first strikeout of the afternoon. The graduate student earned his second strikeout in the third inning while Ryan Proto caught a runner stealing to keep the River Hawks in front through three.

The Highlanders took the lead in the fifth inning behind three runs on four hits. James Capellupo entered the game before a two-out double scored two more for the hosts, making it a 5-1 game. Cam Sime closed the inning on the mound.

Scott Donahue hit a leadoff triple in the sixth as NJIT made a change on the mound. The freshman came in to score on Conor Kelly’s RBI double to cut the lead to three runs. Capellupo threw a quick bottom half of the frame and saw his defense turn a 5-4-3 double play to send the game to the seventh.

The host’s lead was pushed the 7-2 with one out in the seventh before Jacob Jette entered the game for Sime. One more run came in to score with the Highlanders taking a six-run lead late in the game. Jette struck out three in the eighth, but NJIT had pushed the lead to eight.

NJIT went on to take game two and the series. Game three is set for 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 31.