Box Score


The first one was a nail biter, the second was not, but the bottom line was the same as UMass Lowell dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Southern New Hampshire, 4-3 in ten innings and 10-0, Saturday afternoon at LeLacheur Park.
 
“We just never got that big hit,” says UMass Lowell Baseball Coach Ken Harring.  “We battled; if you get that one hit it becomes contagious.”
 
The twin bill featured missed opportunities.  The River Hawks left six men on base in the final four innings of the first game and left 16 runners stranded in the nightcap.
 
The double dip drops UMass Lowell to 26-18 overall and 7-9 in the Northeast Division of the Northeast-10 Conference.  Southern New Hampshire improves to 31-13 / 12-6.
 
“We need to bounce back tomorrow against a good team,” says Harring.  “We'll be ready.”
 
The afternoon's frustration also leaves UMass Lowell a half game back of Merrimack College in the fourth and final playoff spot with five games to play.
 
“If we can take care of the business we need to take care of, we'll be all right,” says Harring.  “We can't lose, we want (our fate) in our own hands.”
 
The two games followed very different scripts; the first, a pitchers duel, the nightcap, the eternal search for the big hit.
 
First things first.
 
Southern New Hampshire scored twice in the tenth inning as the Penmen took the first of a doubleheader, 4-3.  Anthony Aceto's two-run pinch single proved to be the biggest hit of the game.  The line drive to right center was the third consecutive Penmen hit to open the inning and plated two runs.
 
The tenth inning uprising frustrated a River Hawk ball club that had forced extra frames with a two-run rally of its own in the ninth inning.
 
Sophomore Jacob O'Keefe's (Wellington, Fla.) one-out single with the bases loaded scored two and appeared to leave the River Hawks in position to win the ball game.  But UMass Lowell was unable to find one more big hit.
 
The River Hawks made it interesting in the home half of the tenth.  A two-out double by Sophomore Jimmy Ricoy (Lowell, Mass.) and a senior Pat Devlin (Tewksbury, Mass.) single made it a one-run ball game. 
 
The hit was Devlin's third of the game.  He had five on the day.  He also walked three times in the doubleheader.
 
But again UMass Lowell could not find one more base hit.
 
Lost in the first game frustration was a terrific pitching performance turned in by starter, senior Taylor Robinson (Haverhill, Mass.)  The righthander allowed just four hits and two runs in eight innings of work.  He walked one and struck out six.
 
He deserved a better fate.
 
The Penmen scored single runs in the third and eighth innings, each time a two-out single did the trick. 
 
The second game featured what the first game did not: a big inning.  Unfortunately it was on the visitors' side of the ledger. Southern New Hampshire sent 13 men to the plate in the seventh inning.  When the dust had settled the Penmen had hung a “7” on the scoreboard breaking open what had been a tight 3-0 ballgame.
 
Despite the 10-0 final, UMass Lowell had opportunities.  The River Hawks left the bases loaded four times.
 
UMass Lowell and Southern New Hampshire meet for a final time during the regular season Sunday afternoon (1:00pm) at LeLacheur Park.  The River Hawks will be on the road Tuesday at Stonehill, before wrapping up the regular season with three against Bentley.