EAST GREENSBORO, NC – The UMass Lowell baseball team (0-4, 0-0 AE) fell to the North Carolina A&T Aggies (1-4, 0-0 Big South) 14-4 in game one of the weekend series.
"We're not playing very good baseball and we're a little out of sync," said head coach
Ken Harring. "We need to be able to stop the bleeding by making a play or a pitch and limiting free bases. I think our guys just need to relax a bit and settle in."
Senior
Joshua Becker (Burlington, Mass.) started on the mound for the River Hawks, picking up his first strikeout of the night in the first inning. UMass Lowell was held scoreless through the first three innings and the Aggies jumped ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the third.
The River Hawks could not find an offensive rhythm early on and struggled to make plays on the defensive side. Becker picked up another strikeout in the bottom of the fourth, but the Aggies extended the lead to 5-0 heading into the fifth inning.
Sophomore
Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) had the first hit of the night for the River Hawks in the top of the fifth, but UMass Lowell was unable to get on the board. The Aggies added another run in the bottom half of the frame to take a 6-0 lead into the sixth inning. Sophomore
Michael Quigley (Halifax, Mass.) came in relief of Becker to start the sixth.
The River Hawk offense found life in the sixth, as freshman
Jacob Humphrey (Standish, Maine) hit a solo shot to right field to get UMass Lowell on the board. Senior
Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.) followed with a single up the middle and then stole second to keep the offense rolling. The senior then stole third and on a throwing error to make it a 6-2 game.
Senior
Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) was walked before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Junior
Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) reached first on another throwing error by the Aggies, advancing Siracusa to third. Freshman
Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.) singled to center to bring Siracusa in to cut the lead to 6-3.
The Aggies answered with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, extending the lead to 10-3. Brown's single to center in the seventh brought in freshman
Conor Kelly (Hopkinton, Mass.) to make it a 10-4 game. The Aggies would add four more runs in the eighth to secure the 14-4 win in game one of the weekend series.