ALBANY, N.Y. – The UMass Lowell baseball team split its doubleheader with UAlbany on Saturday afternoon at Varsity Field. The River Hawks rallied to win the second game 5-2, but dropped the first after a dominant 18-4 victory by the Great Danes.
 
UMass Lowell improved to 7-9 in conference play and 8-17 on the year, while UAlbany moved to 10-13 overall and 8-8 in conference action.
 
Sophomore Cam Seguin (Woburn, Mass.) earned his second victory of the season in game two as he went six scoreless innings, striking out four. The Great Danes' offense was hot in the opening game as they used 10 hits to take an early 11-1 lead by the third inning.
 
"The Biggest difference was timely hitting and our work on the mound," stated assistant coach Brad Cook. "Cam stepped up and gave us six scoreless, which is exactly what we needed in game two, followed by Henry who came in and did his job to close it out. At the plate we took advantage of the opportunities with guys in scoring position, especially Siracusa, Gallagher, and Sullivan, tallying huge 2 out RBI."
 
Redshirt-senior Cam Climo (Billerica, Mass.) added to the offense in game one with a three-run homer, while senior Vinnie Martin (Lodi, N.J.) went 2-for-3 with one run. Sophomore Cedric Rose (Pittsfield, Mass.) registered the only other RBI of the opener.
 
The Great Danes were quick to pull in front in game one with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. However, UMass Lowell answered in its second trip to the dish when junior Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) got on with a grounder to second, advanced on a steal and scored on a sacrifice fly by Rose, slashing the difference in half at 2-1. Although, UAlbany quickly snagged back the lead with three runs on two hits in the bottom of the inning.
 
UAlbany would answer again in the second, stretching their lead by two. Before an explosive five-hit, six-run inning in the third pushed their lead to 11-1. The River Hawks would use Climos' sixth homerun of the season in the top of the sixth as a last-ditch effort, however the Great Danes would scratch across three more runs in the bottom to extend the difference to 18-4, earning the decision in the seven-inning starter.
 
UAlbany scored in its first trip to the plate in game two, as well, when Johnny Marti scored on a wild pitch to take a 1-0 advantage. Although, Seguin would step in from there for his sixing inning performance, allowing zero runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
 
Going through a scoreless second and third, UMass Lowell would respond in the fourth, jumping out to a 2-1 lead when a double by Siracusa would send in Climo followed by a shot up the right side by rookie Jimmy Sullivan (East Hampton, Conn.) to send home Siracusa.
 
Both sides combined for six runners left on through the next two innings, with the Great Danes leaving four of them. Sparking the action again, the visitors would add to their total after Rose put himself in scoring position from a single shot to left in the top of the seventh. Junior Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.) would put the ball in right, plating Rose for a 3-1 lead.
 
UMass Lowell jumped out to a 5-1 advantage in the eighth when they took advantage of a pair of errors on an errant pickoff attempt on Martin to score, followed by Climo stepping home after a wild pitch. The Great Danes would get one back in their half of the eighth on an RBI single. However, senior Henry Funaro (Lowell, Mass.) would step on the mound finishing off all three UAlbany batters to seal the decision, 5-2.
 
The River Hawks will head back to Varsity Field to close out their series with the Great Danes tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is slated for 12 p.m.
 
"Tomorrow will about coming out and playing good, clean baseball to help get some momentum going in the right direction" commented Cook.