STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Junior
Cam Climo (Billerica, Mass.) totaled a team-best six RBI, as the UMass Lowell baseball team (18-34, 11-12 AE) split a doubleheader at America East foe Stony Brook (28-20, 15-8 AE) on Friday.
The River Hawks battled to a 6-5 decision in extra innings in game one, extending their win streak to six games, including four straight in conference action. The Seawolves would take game two, however, coming from behind for an 8-7, walk-off victory.
Junior
Ciaran Devenney (Manalapan, N.J.) went 4-for-5 at the plate to pace UMass Lowell in the twin bill, while freshmen
Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.) and
Andrew Roden (Sherill, N.Y.) added three hits apiece on the day.
The River Hawks jumped out to an early lead in game one, as Gallagher sparked the offense with a lead-off single before scoring on a RBI by redshirt-junior
Oscar Marchena (Miami, Fla.). However, the home team was quick to respond in its first trip to the dish with three runs on two hits, including a two-run home run by Chris Hamilton.
UMass Lowell chipped away in the second, cutting the difference to 3-2, when Devenney came home on a ball put in play by Climo, but the defense for both sides would control the next four innings, as the teams combined for eight runners left on with no change in the score.
The visitors broke the silence in the top of the seventh, knotting the game at 3-3 on a double down the right field line by Gallagher, but the Seawolves answered right back in the bottom of the inning with a RBI two-bagger of their own to regain the lead, 4-3. The River Hawks battled back once again, though, thanks to Climo's rope to straight-away center that put his squad on top, 5-4, in the eighth.
Stony Brook evened the board in the bottom of the ninth to force extras, but Climo plated what would be the game-winner in the 10th with a liner to right, sealing the 6-5 victory.
Although the River Hawks' also scratched across the first run in the nightcap on a hit to right by sophomore
Vinnie Martin (Lodi, N.J.), SBU put together a five-run rally in the third that included a three-run triple by Brandon Alamo to jump out to a 5-1 advantage. UMass Lowell then battled right back in the fourth, scoring six runs on four hits to pull ahead, 7-5.
A sacrifice fly and a RBI double erased the difference in the sixth and forced a 7-7 stalemate. After a 1-2-3 inning for the River Hawks in the top of the seventh, Stony Brook put runners on the corners, setting up a game-winning sacrifice fly for the 8-7 outcome.
UMass Lowell and Stony Brook will square off in the series rubber match tomorrow, Saturday, May 18 at 12 p.m. to close out the regular season.
