Merrimack Run Rules UMass Lowell 13-3

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When playing your cross-town rival, the game takes on a little more meaning. On Tuesday afternoon at LeLacheur Park, the Merrimack Warriors (11-24-1) took on the UMass Lowell River Hawks (13-22) for the second time this spring. In the first meeting at Merrimack, the Warriors were the winners, 4-2 in a close game that was decided by defense and the long ball. This time around, the game was never a contest. The Warriors used a big 8-run first inning to take a 13-3 victory that was stopped after seven innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

Head coach Nick Barese went with sophomore Kevin Rourke to start this game. Barese said Rourke “is a guy that lives with deception and on the corners.” He is a soft-tossing RHP that keeps it around 80-85 MPH. On Tuesday afternoon, there was no deception about anything Rourke was doing. Every pitch was middle-middle, and the Warriors’ bats did not miss any of them. Merrimack sent 12 men to the plate in the first inning, and eight of them scored. There were seven hits in the inning, and the big blow was a grand slam HR off the bat of Harry Painter, his ninth of the season. A 400+ foot blast that hit off the batting eye in dead center field. Rourke (0-1) never made it out of the inning. His line was ugly (.2 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 7 ER). UML was down 8-0 before their first at-bat.

Next man up for the River Hawks was freshman Nolan Geisler. The RHP was a little better, but not much. He, too, gave up a long home run to RF off the bat of Christian Scanlon (2-for-3, 2 RS, 2 RBI), his fifth of the spring. It was a solo HR and made the score at that point, 9-0 Merrimack. The River Hawks pushed across a run in their half of the second on a RBI groundout by Ryan Strand that scored Conor Kelly (2-for-2, 1 RS, 2 doubles), who led the inning off with a double to right field. 9-1 Merrimack after two innings. The Warriors tacked on three more in the third on the third HR of the game. This one was from Frankie Ferrentino (2-for-5, 2 RS, 3 RBI). A rocket of a blast that went over the Jumbotron in left field. With the three home runs in the ballgame, Merrimack has now hit 40 on the year. It was now a 12-2 game.

UML scratched across a couple of runs against the Warriors starter Luke Linnehan. In the third, SS Brayden Cali hit his first collegiate HR to left field. Linnehan left after four (5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO). The third River Hawks run was scored on a sac-fly by Brandon Fish off of the second Warriors pitcher, Michael Bradshaw, in the fifth. It was a 12-3 game at that point. The skies opened up, and a rain delay of over an hour took place. The 13th run came across on a double to the base of the wall in center field by Hayden Bond (3-for-4, 2 RS, 3 RBI). That made it a 13-3 game in the seventh.

After the rain let up, the River Hawks had one more chance to keep the game alive in the bottom of the sixth. With one down against Dawson Logie (2-1), UML loaded the bases. However, Logie got out of it by striking out Cali, then getting Scott Donahue on a comebacker to the mound. After the game, Barese talked about his team’s lack of “situational hitting.” It has become a source of frustration with him and the rest of the coaching staff.

UMass Lowell needs to regroup and get ready for a road weekend at Bryant University. The Bulldogs have won four in a row and will be looking for payback after losing two of three earlier this season to UML. With this being a holiday weekend, they will play a single game Friday, then a doubleheader on Saturday.

Postgame interview with Coach Barese: