April 16, 2009

LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell baseball team is third in the first NCAA Division II baseball poll, the NCAA Division II Baseball Committee released Wednesday.

The River Hawks are the highest among Northeast-10 schools in the poll. Franklin Pierce is fourth. Bentley is fifth. And Assumption is eighth.

UMass Lowell is 17-11 overall and 9-7 in NE-10 play entering its game Thursday afternoon at Southern New Hampshire. The River Hawks are coming off a 5-1 win over the Penmen at LeLacheur Park on Tuesday.

Starting pitcher Dustin Ramey (Kingston, N.H.) struck out a season-high 14 batters over eight innings on the mound for UML Tuesday night.

Taylor von Kriegenbergh (Stoneham, Mass.) had two hits, a run scored and an RBI. Jared Notargiacomo (Newburyport, Mass.) had two RBI in the win.

Freshmen Pat Devlin (Tewksbury, Mass.) and Jack Leathersich (Beverly, Mass.) have played key roles in the River Hawks’ early success.

Devlin leads the team with a .361 average in 26 games. He also leads the team with 39 hits and 13 stolen bases. Devlin is second on the team with 19 runs scored.

Leathersich has a team-best four wins, and a team-leading 0.64 earned run average (ERA) in 39.0 innings pitched. The freshman lefthander has allowed just 19 hits, while picking up 40 strikeouts over his 39 innings of work.

As a team the River Hawks are hitting .268 and have a team ERA of 3.03.

After Thursday afternoon’s game at Southern New Hampshire, UMass Lowell plays a three-game weekend series against Saint Rose. The River Hawks host the Golden Knights for a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 12:00 p.m. The two schools conclude the series Sunday in Albany (3:00 p.m.).