CHARLESTON, SC – The UMass Lowell baseball team (4-10, 0-0 AE) fell 9-1 to the College of Charleston Cougars (9-7, 0-0 CAA) on Sunday afternoon. The River Hawks finished the weekend in South Carolina with a 1-2 record.
"I thought we reverted to game one today. We didn't play good defense and we didn't hit," said head coach
Ken Harring. "I thought we pitched well enough to win. But for us, 12 strikeouts with six looking is not a recipe to win."
Senior
Joshua Becker (Burlington, Mass) fell to 1-3 on the season. The senior pitched 5.0 innings, allowing three runs and striking out two. Sophomore
Brendan Williams (Auburn, N.Y.) came in relief of Becker in the sixth, allowing two earned runs and sitting two hitters.
On the offensive side, junior
Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) led the way going 3-4 with two doubles on the day. Freshman
Jacob Humphrey (Standish, Maine) went 2-4 and sophomore
Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) went 1-3 with a double and an RBI.
Unlike the previous two games between these two teams, game three was a low-scoring affair with just four total runs scored. The Cougars jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning and would stretch the lead to 3-0 in the fifth inning.
The River Hawks got on the board in the top of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 3-1. Senior
Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) singled up the middle to get things rolling for UMass Lowell. Proto doubled to left to advance Siracusa to third. Genther then stepped up to the plate and hit an RBI double, bringing in SIracusa.
Proto doubled to left center in the top of the eighth but was left stranded as the inning ended. The hosts added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run home run from Cam Dean to push the lead to 5-1. A single to right scored another, making it 6-1 with runners on the corner and one out. Senior
Matt Draper (Lowell, Mass.) entered the game replacing Williams. The hosts added three more runs to take a commanding 9-1 lead going into the ninth.
The Cougars held on to win the series finale 9-1. The River Hawks wrap up the two-week road trip and return home before conference play begins.
"We found out a lot about ourselves on this trip. The real seasons starts this weekend at Stony Brook."
UMass Lowell will travel to Stony Brook next weekend to open America East action. Game one of the weekend series is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday, March 18 at Joe Nathan Field.
