River Hawks Earn Doubleheader Split With Late Inning Lightning

Saturday, February 15

Holly Springs, N.C.

12PM

University of Massachusetts Lowell

1-1

Canisius

1-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UMass Lowell	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	2	1	7	11	2
Canisius	1	5	1	0	4	8	0	1	X	20	15	0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UMass Lowell	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	4	6	3
Canisius	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	8	0

River Hawks Earn Doubleheader Split With Late Inning Lightning

2/16/2020 1:35:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game One Box Score

HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. – Senior Cam Climo (Billerica, Mass.) and junior Vinnie Martin (Lodi, N.J.) hit back-to-back homeruns as UMass Lowell came from behind to earn a doubleheader split against Canisius at Ting Park in Holly Springs.

"This was a great win," said UMass Lowell Baseball Head Coach Ken Harring. "We overcame adversity; it was a gritty win, a character win. We've got a good lineup, we're never out of a game. It was awesome."

The River Hawks dropped game one of the doubleheader, 20-7, before coming back and coming from behind to win the nightcap, 4-3. UMass Lowell is now 2-1 on the young season, Canisius, a member of the MAAC, drops to 1-2.

Down 2-0 in the sixth inning of a seven inning ballgame River Hawk bats came to life. Junior Joey Castellanos lit the rally fuse with a one-out single through the right side of the infield. One out later Climo drilled a two-run homerun to left center field to tie the game at two. The blast came off a fastball with a two-ball one-strike count and touched down more than 420-feet from home plate.

"He's changed his approach at the plate," said Harring. "He's made some adjustments; he's taking the ball where it's pitched and it's paying off."

The homerun tied the game, changed the mood in the dugout and set the stage for more dramatics. Martin was next and he untied the ballgame with what his coach described as "a missile down the right field line." That missile cleared the fence in right and gave the River Hawks a lead, 3-2, that they would not relinquish.

"He's got more power than he has shown in the past," said Harring talking about Martin. "He's grown up and grown as a hitter and made some adjustments."

Freshman Keagan Calero (Rochester, N.H.) added some insurance in the seventh inning with a run scoring two-out double to right field. The insurance proved to be blessing as Canisius cut the gap to one with a run in the bottom of the seventh for a 4-3 final.

UMass Lowell banged out only six hits, two each for Castellanos and Martin, but it provided just enough support to back a strong outing grad student starter Collin Duffley (Manchester, N.H.). The right hander worked into the sixth inning allowing one earned run on six hits. Eight of the sixteen outs he recorded came on ground balls. He also struck out two.

"Duff was great," said Harring. "He located his fastball and used his off speed stuff effectively. He made his best pitches at key times. He was a real competitor."

Sophomore closer Joshua Becker (Burlington, Mass.) allowed one run while getting the final five outs to earn his second save of the season.

The come-from-behind win was the perfect antidote to a frustrating opener. The coach described the 20-7 loss as "a case of first game jitters." Four out of five River Hawk pitchers struggle to throw strikes and keep batters off the base paths. UMass Lowell pitchers allowed 15-hits, walked 14 and hit three batters as well. It should be noted that Blaise Sclafani (Souderton, Penn.) allowed just one hit and an unearned in two and one-third innings of relief.

River Hawk bats did provide some offense hammering out seven runs on 11 hits. Martin, Climo and sophomore Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.) had two-hits apiece. Gallagher and freshman Jiovel Lantigua (Spring Hill, Florida) each drove in a pair of runs.

UMass Lowell and Canisius will wrap up the season opening four game series on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. Righthander Sal Fusco is expected to go to the mound for the River Hawks.