UMass Lowell Sweeps DH From Lemoyne College

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A full day of college baseball took place on Saturday afternoon at Lelacheur Park in Lowell, MA. The UMass Lowell River Hawks (8-12, 1-2) took a doubleheader from LeMoyne College (4-14) by scores of 13-6 & 9-4. The two wins give the River Hawks a four-game winning streak and their first series win of the season. For LeMoyne College, their losing streak is now at six games.

In the two games, UMass Lowell banged out 29 hits. Ten of them were for extra bases including three home runs, two of them by CF Alex Luccini who never made an out at the plate. He was 6-for-6, with two home runs, one in each game, scored 5 runs, and knocked in 4. In game two he was a double short of the cycle and he was not alone. LF River Hart was 4-for-7 in the two games with 4 runs scored and 2 runs batted in. RF Carlos Martinez was 4-for-9, with 2 runs scored and an RBI. For the two games, the River Hawks’s starting outfield was an impressive 14-for-22 with 3 home runs, 11 runs scored, and 7 RBI.

The pitching in the two games was as coach Nick Barase said afterwards, “pretty good.” Both starters, Miles Cota in game one, and Brendan Holland in game two would get no-decisions. However, each starter did their job. in game one, Cota went four innings, and one hit, which was a first-inning 2-run double to left field by Dolphins LF Tyler Campbell (5-for-9, 4 RBI, 1 RS in the DH). Cota walked 4 and also had 3 strikeouts. Over his final three innings, Cota allowed only four more runners to reach. In game two, Holland pitched five innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 earned runs, a walk, and 6 strikeouts, including three in a row early in his start.

In both games, the River Hawks would use big innings to break the games open. In game one, 10 of their runs were scored in two innings. A four-run fourth where they batted around and scored all of their runs with two outs. RBI hits from Brandon Fish, Joseph DeLanzo, and Hart got the job done. In the fifth, they batted around again against the Dolphins pen and scored 6 more runs. Fish (3-for-4, 2RS, 3 RBI) Luccini, and Zachary Scott (2-for-4, 1 RS, 3 RBI) did the damage at the plate. In game two, the offense scored runs in 6 of the 8 plate appearances. Luccini (5th HR of the year) hit a solo HR to RF in the first. Hart (3 home runs on the season) hit a blast to left-center in the second and got things rolling. Both HRs came off LeMoyne game two starter Max Parker (1-5) who went five and gave up 9 hits, and 6 earned runs.

The River Hawks bullpen would get the wins and saves in both games. Five different pitchers pitched in both games. There was some good and some bad from this group. In game one, freshman Jake LeFrancois (1-0) looked good until he ran out of gas, and in 1.2 IP he allowed 2 hits and an earned run. He struck out four of the first five batters he faced in his outing. Andres Hulfactor only went a third of an inning but got a big out in the sixth when he got LeMoyne leadoff hitter Ethan Farina (0-for-7, 2 RS) to strike out swinging to end the inning. Kevin Zarnoch Jr. went three to pick up save #1 on the year giving up 5 hits and 3 earned runs. Not a great outing, but good enough.

In game two. Dylan Bedder (1-1) picked up the win with an inning of work. He gave up a run in the top of the sixth to tie the game at 3-3 and an RBI base hit by Jack Cannon to score Adam Sullivan and tie the game. Bedder was still in the game when UMass Lowell scored three in the bottom of the inning. DeLanzo’s RBI base hit was followed by a 2-run base hit from Spencer Aubin. At the time that made it a 6-3 River Hawks lead. Nick Dirito would then come on and throw the final three innings to get save #3 with three innings of 1 hit, 1 unearned run, 4 walks, 2 strikeouts baseball.

Overall, coach Barase was happy with his team’s performance. He believes his lineup is “the best in America East.” Saturday’s results would do nothing to say otherwise. On Sunday, the River Hawks will go for their first sweep of the season against LeMoyne with a 1 PM first pitch.