KINGSTON, R.I. -- Behind a combined shutout from Connor Metelski (Wall Township, N.J.) and Henry Funaro (Lowell, Mass.), the UMass Lowell baseball team earned its first America East series victory of the year, defeating UAlbany, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon.

Metelski struck out eight batters over five innings, and Funaro earned the four-inning save, racking up three strikeouts as well, as the River Hawks (9-11, 2-1) shutdown the Great Dane (9-7, 1-2) offense. In his first career start, Kyle Maurice (Exeter, N.H.) picked up three hits and scored the contest's only run thanks to a Joey Castellanos (Nutley, N.J.) single in the second.

"It was a great series with three one-run games, obviously the pitchers were the story but it was a battle between two really good teams," commented Head Coach Ken Harring. "I can't say enough of what Metelski and Funaro did out there today, there were able to get ahead of the hitters and control the zone which is key in the conditions we had. I'm really proud of Maurice, making his first start, getting a couple of big hits and making plays behind the plate."

Maurice doubled into the right-center gap with one out and Castellanos drove him in two batters later. UMass Lowell freshmen combined for five of the team's six hits in the outing, and Russ Olive (Chelmsford, Mass.) drew three walks.

UAlbany got the tying run 90 feet away in the bottom of the night, but Funaro clinched the win inducing a grounder to third. The Great Danes had four runners get into scoring position in the game, and had a bases-loaded threat in the third but could not get any runs across.

Before a conference series at Stony Brook next weekend, UMass Lowell heads to Poughkeepsie to take on Marist on Wednesday at 3 p.m.