Box Score


Three UMass Lowell pitchers combined on a 3-hitter as the River Hawks defeated the College of Saint Rose, 2-1, Wednesday night at Lelacheur Park.
 
With the win UMass Lowell improves to 21-15.  St. Rose drops to 6-20.
 
“I thought it was just a real good baseball game,” says UMass Lowell Baseball Coach Ken Harring. “It was crisply played, the pitchers were terrific and we got good situational hitting.”
 
Baseball can be as much as ninety-percent pitching and in this case the pitchers may have pushed that equation to the limit.
 
River Hawk starter Mike Calzetta (Lawrence, Mass.) turned in a solid gutsy performance.  He allowed one run on three hits in six innings of work.  The junior righthander struggled at times; he walked three and hit two batters, but battled through.  He left the bases loaded in the fifth.
 
“(Calzetta's) two seam fastball really runs, six to eight inches, and can be devastating,” says Harring.  “He made some big pitches.”
 
The win was Calzetta third of the year against one loss.
 
Senior Mike Sloban (Merrimac, Mass.) followed Calzetta to the mound and little changed.  Sloban retired all six batters he faced, three on strikes, before turning the game over to senior closer Tyler Toyfair (Agawam, Mass.)
 
“Sloban was awesome tonight,” says Harring.  “That's as good as I've seen him all year.”
 
Toyfair was unhittable.  He faced three men in the ninth, none made contact as he struck out the side to end the ballgame.
 
“If we get performances like that out of (our bullpen) down the stretch, we can do something big,” says Harring.
 
Toyfair picked up his second save of the season.
 
The River Hawks banged out only four hits, but solid fundamental at bats produced a couple of runs and that was enough.  
 
Trailing, 1-0, UMass Lowell tied it in the third inning.  Freshman Joe Consolmagno (Worcester, Mass.) drilled a two strike pitch to rightcenter for a one out triple.
 
“He's a good two strike hitter,” says Harring, “and for a little guy he's got some pop.”
 
Senior James Katsiroubas (Milton, Mass.) plated Consolmagno with a ground ball to the right side of the infield.
 
It would be a similar formula in the fifth inning when the River Hawks took the lead.  Sophomore Luke Reynolds (Manchester, N. H.) opened the inning with a double to the power alley in right.  An infield out moved him to third and a Consolmagno ground ball to second scored the run and put UMass Lowell on top to stay, 2-1.
 
“That's what we work on,” says Harring.  “Being unselfish, knowing the situation.  Situational hitting wins you games.”
 
St. Rose starter Chris Gould was a tough luck loser.  He allowed just four hits and two walks over eight innings of work.  He struck out six but saw his record drop to 1-7.
 
UMass Lowell will spend the weekend in Colchester, Vermont.  The River Hawks battle Saint Michael's College in a doubleheader Saturday and a single game on Sunday.