0
0
This may be the best stretch of baseball to date for the UMass Lowell River Hawks (17-26) with a three-game winning streak that saw the team put up 15 runs and 15 hits in a 15-7 win over the Quinnipiac Bobcats (23-18-1). A Bobcats team that really could not afford to slip up the way they did at LeLacheur Park on Tuesday afternoon. They came into this game third in their league, which is the MAAC, with a 14-7 conference record and an RPI of 93. The RPI will take a hit as they prepare for their weekend league series at Mount St. Mary. The River Hawks, on the other hand, have an RPI of 261. Nothing to write home about, but still a good non-conference win.
Brian Floey got the start for UML, and his outing was not what head coach Nick Barese was looking for. He wanted innings from Foley and did not get them. The Bobcats sent eight men to the plate in the first inning, with three of them scoring. RBI hits from CJ Willis, Sebastian Mueller, and an RBI groundout from Christian Smith gave Quinnipiac a 3-0 lead before UML came to bat. In the bottom of the first, against Bobcats starter Griffin Seibel, UMass Lowell got two of those runs back on a two-run HR to left center field by River Hart (3-for-6, 2 RS, 4 RBI, 2 HR), his seventh of the year. He now owns the team lead in four-baggers. Hart would do that again in the third off Seible (3 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 So) to almost the same spot to give his team a 4-3 lead after three, his eighth of the season.
Meanwhile, Cam Sime came in from the River Hawks’ bullpen and calmed the game down. His three innings of zero hits, 1 unearned run baseball was just what the coach was looking for. It gave the bats of the River Hawks a chance to build on their advantage, which is what happened. While the Bobcats were scoring single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, UMass Lowell exploded for six runs in the fifth, and three more in the sixth to take a 13-7 lead after six innings. Several players played a role in the nine runs scored over two innings. DH Ryan Strand (3-for-5, 2 RS) and SS Brayden Cali (3-for-3, 2 RS, 1 RBI) were big in those innings. 2nd baseman Rowan Masse (2-for-4, 2 RS, 2 RBI) was also involved. The 6-7-8-9 hitters for UML went 7-14, 7 RS, and 4 RBI
Nolan Geisler (1-2) would get the win with two innings of five-hit, 2 earned run pitching. He was ok, and would help himself with a nice fielding play on a comebacker off the bat of James Marino in the sixth after allowing a run to score. The best outing out of the River Hawks bullpen was Kevin Zarnock, who would set down all six Quinnipiac hitters he faced. In fact, Zarnock recorded the only 1-2-3- innings of the game. UML finished off the scoring in the eighth on a two-run HR by Alex Luccini, his seventh of the year, to right field. It has been a bit of a struggle for Luccini of late, so maybe that home run gets him started.
Jake LeFrancois pitched a scoreless ninth for the River Hawks, and they improved to 3-1 on the eight-game homestand with a 15-7 win. Coach Barese called it “A good win.” He thinks his team is starting to play better baseball and likes that his offense is starting to find different ways to score runs. They have a big conference series that begins on Friday night with UAlbany. A team they are trying to hold off to get into the America East tournament. The first pitch is on Friday is at 6 PM.
Author Profile
