River Hawks Drop Series Finale, 8-7, On Sunday

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SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (16-21, 7-7 AE) fell to the Bryant Bulldogs (25-12, 13-2 AE) on a walk-off in the series finale on Sunday afternoon. Bryant takes the weekend series 2-1 and the River Hawks fall to 7-7 in conference play.

“We didn’t pitch well enough to win,” said head coach Nick Barese. “We couldn’t execute a few key pitches and they took advantage of it.”

Juniors Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) and Conor Kelly (Hopkinton, Mass.) went 2-4 and 2-3, respectively, to lead the offense on Sunday. Freshman Ryan Strand (Goffstown, N.H.) tallied one hit and one run with three RBIs to lead the team. Graduate student Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) scored a team-high three runs and had one hit.

Graduate student Miles Cota (Hampstead, NC) went 5.1 innings with six strikeouts and was given the loss to fall to 1-2 on the year. Sophomore Brian Foley (Milton, Mass.) and senior Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.) each tallied a strikeout in 1.1 and 1.2 innings of work, respectively.

Senior Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) hit his fifth homer of the year, a solo shot to right field, to give UMass Lowell an early 1-0 lead. After allowing a leadoff single, Miles Cota struck out three consecutive hitters to end the inning and keep the River Hawks in front. Ryan Proto opened the second with a ground-rule double and Conor Kelly singled to put two runners on. A fielding error allowed Proto to score and double the River Hawks’ advantage.

Cota tallied another strikeout and Proto caught a runner stealing in the bottom of the second for the first two outs of the inning. Bryant added another hit, but a groundout ended the frame and kept the hosts off the board.

Bryant tied the game in the bottom of the third with a two-run home run before a two-out double gave the hosts a 3-2 lead. UMass Lowell went down in order and a two-out solo home run in the fourth gave Bryant a two-run lead.

The middle of the lineup stayed hot as Proto and Kelly got on base in the fifth inning with a walk and a hit. Ryan Strand followed with a two-RBI double to left center to tie the game. Roddy Hernandez doubled down the left field line to score Strand from second and give UMass Lowell a 5-4 lead.

The River Hawks added a run in the seventh with Luccini scoring on a Bryant error to make it a 6-4 game, still with two on and one out. Ryan Strand brought in Proto with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to three runs in the middle of the seventh. Zach Fortuna pitched well in the sixth, retiring both hitters he faced, and continued in the bottom of the seventh.

Graduate student Kevin Zarnoch Jr. (Boston, Mass.) took over on the mound for the eighth and was relieved by Brian Foley with two on and one out. Bryant scored a run to make it 7-5 with runners on the corners and two outs before tying the game with a double to right center. Foley struck out one in the bottom of the ninth, but the Bulldogs won with a walk-off single.

The River Hawks return to action on Tuesday, April 23 with a visit to Harvard. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. at O’Donnell Field.