Box Score

A little bit of joy, a little bit of frustration, all in a day's work as the UMass Lowell baseball team split a pair of games against Stonehill, Tuesday afternoon at LeLacheur Park.
 
Jimmy Ricoy drilled a 17^th inning single to right to put the River Hawks on top to stay as UMass Lowell defeated Stonehill, 7-5, in the completion of a suspended game, but the nightcap got away from the River Hawks when the visitors plated seven runs in the fifth inning en route to a 10-6 final.
 
With the split UMass Lowell moves to 20-15 overall and 3-6 in the Northeast Division of the Northeast-10 Conference.  Stonehill is now 20-14 / 6-4.
 
It took just two innings to complete the game started on April 2^nd at Lou Gorman Field in Easton, Mass.  The two teams had played 15 innings before the 4-4 game was suspended because of darkness.
 
The game is the second longest in UMass Lowell baseball history.  The River Hawks and Dowling battled for 18 innings March 12, 2011 in Lantana, Florida.
 
Ricoy, a sophomore from Lowell, had three hits and three runs driven in, in the ball game.  In his 17^th inning at bat, he took a pitch down and away and lined it to right.
 
“Jimmy's a good hitter and he knew the situation,” says Harring.  “He's a very good situational hitter.  When he stays within himself and uses the whole field, he's an good a runner producer as there is in this league.”
 
Senior Pat Devlin (Tewksbury, Mass.) followed Ricoy's 17^th inning RBI single with a run scoring single of his own to put UMass Lowell up by two, 7-5.
 
At the resumption of play in the 16^th inning it appeared neither team appeared to want to take charge of the game.  Each allowed an unearned run before the River Hawks struck for two their second time with the bat.
 
The two teams combined for 12 runs and 27 hits in the two-day marathon.  Two weeks earlier the UMass Lowell had struck for three runs in the sixth inning, added a run in the ninth, but were unable to protect the 4-2 lead.
 
Sophomore Geoff Fisher (Londonderry, N. H.) picked up his first collegiate win with five innings of relief work; three on April 2^nd and two more with the resumption of play. 
 
“Fisher was spectacular throwing strikes and keeping guys off balance,” says UMass Lowell Baseball Coach Ken Harring.  “He throws three pitches for strikes, fastball, cutter and change, and he had them all working.  He moved the ball in an out.  He gave us a chance to win and that's all you can ask for.”
 
Fisher allowed four hits and an unearned run.  The righthander walked two and struck out five.
 
Devlin and sophomore Matthew Sanchez (Sunrise, Fla.) each had two hits and an RBI in the game.
 
Baseball games often turn on hits with runners in scoring position.  UMass Lowell produced with runners on base in the completion of the suspended game, not so in the scheduled tilt.
 
The River Hawks left 14 men on base in the second game, 11 of them in the final five innings.  It would be their undoing.
 
The River Hawks grabbed a 2-0 lead in their first turn with the bat in the regularly scheduled game. Senior James Katsiroubas (Milton, Mass.) drove in the first run with a single, Sanchez knocked in the second with a sacrifice fly.
 
The nightcap turned into a nightmare when Stonehill sent eleven men to the plate and scored seven times, on eight hits, in the fifth inning.  Chris Hoyt tripled to drive in a couple of runs and tie the game at two.  Eric Schneider ended the scoring six batters later with a two-run single.
 
The River Hawks narrowed the gap a bit with two in the sixth.  Sophomore Jacob O'Keefe (Wellington, Fla.) drove them in with a double.
 
UMass Lowell added another run in the seventh but left the bases loaded.
 
The River Hawks made it a one run game in the eighth.  Freshman Matt Mottola (Newburyport, Mass.) opened the inning with a triple and scored one out later on a freshman Joe Consolmagno (Worcester, Mass.) single.  7-6, but UMass Lowell left the bases loaded for the second consecutive inning.
 
“We just needed that one big hit to break things open,” says Harring.  “When we get that one (clutch hit), we'll get a bunch.”
 
Stonehill got a clutch hit and put the game out of reach in the ninth.  Dan Fratus made it a 10-6 ball game with a three run homer to left.
 
UMass Lowell will return to action tomorrow, Wednesday, at 7:00pm for a single game against the College of Saint Rose.