Bryant Defeats UMass Lowell, 9-2

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While we all envision baseball being played on warm sunny days and clear nights, from time to time, the game is played under difficult conditions. Such was the case on Saturday afternoon at Lelacheur Park as the UMass Lowell River Hawks (10-15, 3-3) played host to the Bryant University Bulldogs (11-14-1, 2-4) in game three of their series. A misty rain and even some showers were a part of the day at Lelacheur. Not ideal conditions to play under, but both teams did. In the end, one team was better prepared to do it than the other.

The River Hawks were the team that was not locked in on Saturday. For the game, they would make five errors that would lead to six unearned runs. All six of those runs were given up by the UML starter Miles Cota, who did not have his best stuff but also got zero help from his defense. In the first two innings alone, the River Hawks made four errors, and Cota did not help his cause by issuing four walks. He only allowed one hit, and that came in the second inning when Drew Wyers hit a bases-clearing double down the left field line. That hit gave the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead after two innings.

Meanwhile, Bryant starting pitcher Clay Robbins was, in the words of River Hawks head coach Nick Barese, “very good.” He went the first five and allowed five hits, zero runs, 1 BB, and 4 SO. Of the 20 batters he faced, only five of them reached base. Of those five, two reached second base. He threw 76 pitches, 50 of them for strikes. He was in charge the whole time on the mound, and it showed.

Bryant would tack on three more runs in the sixth against UML relief pitcher Kevin Zarnoch Jr. An RBI single to left by Wyers (3-for-5, 4 RBI, 2 RS) was followed by a 2-run single to LF by Shea Grady. It gave the Bulldogs a 9-0 lead after the sixth. The River Hawks scored runs in the seventh on a RBI single to right by Jack Fitzgibbons that scored Rowan Masse, who led off the inning with an infield hit off of Bryant relief pitcher Kyle Rizy. Then, in the ninth, Conor Kelly hit an RBI double to left center field that scored River Hart off the third pitcher of the day, Landon White. The final score from Lelacheur Park was Bryant 9, UMass Lowell 2.

Robbins gets the win, and he is now 1-0. Cota, who despite dropping his ERA from 11.05 to 9.00, took the loss and is now 0-1. After the game, the coach was not happy with what he saw from his team. He thought that the Bulldogs were better prepared to play in tough elements. UMass Lowell now hits the road for their next six games, starting with a Tuesday afternoon game at Dartmouth.