Game 1 (PDF) | Game 2 (PDF) | Highlights

LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell baseball team split their doubleheader on Sunday, proving triumphant against Maine by taking two of the three game series at LeLacheur Park. After falling 5-4 in seven innings in the opener, the River Hawks (7-16, 3-5) bounced back in the second game with a 10-6 victory over the Black Bears (11-19, 2-6).
 
"We competed really well all day long," said Head Coach Ken Harring. "I thought the first game, we kind of gave them that victory with some physical errors that are going to happen with a young ballclub but we showed a lot of character in game two coming back and jumping out early. That was key to get on them early and let them know we weren't going anywhere."
 
The River Hawks claimed their first series of the season in what was a gritty and closely contested series that saw the first two games decided by a run before the team bats heated up with their highest run total in over two weeks.
 
"We've been through a lot with a lot of different kinds of games," said Harring. "To come out and win a series in the America East where every weekend is tough is a real true testament for what we've done and the way we've prepared and I think better things are to come."
 
Senior Luke Reynolds (Manchester, N.H.) led the offensive surge with five hits in six at-bats on Sunday, including a pair of doubles and two RBI in the series finale to help Kevin Veilleux (Manchester, N.H.) even his record at 3-3. First baseman Jimmy Ricoy (Lowell, Mass.) went three for four with an RBI in the first game while shortstop Danny Mendick (Rochester, N.Y.) picked up three doubles on the day, none more important than a two-RBI shot to left center to push his teams lead to four in the sixth inning of the nightcap.
 
The River Hawks were balanced in the second game as each player in the lineup picked up a hit with the trio of Reynolds, Joe Consolmagno (Worcester, Mass.) and Brice Erickson (Leominster, Mass.) picking up seven of the teams 15 hits.
 
The River Hawks did most of their damage in a four-run fourth which began with back-to-back doubles to right from Erickson and Reynolds. The bleeding didn't stop for Maine after pulling starter Jake Marks for Charlie Butler as the River Hawks plated three earned runs off the Black Bears reliever in the frame.
 
Geoff DeGroot (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) picked up the loss in the middle game of the series after giving up five runs -two earned- on five hits while striking out four. The Black Bears capitalized on a pair of fourth inning errors by the River Hawks with most of the damage coming on a two-run homer Brian Doran.
 
The River Hawks will take Monday off before playing their fourth of a nine-game homestand in a doubleheader against Dartmouth on Tuesday. The first of the two games is scheduled for 3 p.m.