WINSTON-SALEM, NC – The UMass Lowell baseball team (2-6, 0-0 AE) bounced back with a 7-4 victory over the Central Michigan Chippewas (3-5, 0-0 MAC) on Saturday afternoon.
"It's a great win for the program," said head coach
Ken Harring. "LJ [Keevan] settled things down and threw a ton of strikes for us. We got some big hits from Brandon [Fish] and Gerry [Siracusa]. We persevered through some mistakes earlier in the season and got the job done today."
Freshman
LJ Keevan (Holden, Mass.) picked up the win for the River Hawks, his first collegiate win, picking up six strikeouts and one earned run in 6.0 innings. Freshman
Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.), junior
Cedric Rose (Pittsfield, Mass.) and senior
Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) all hit home runs to lead the offense.
Fish hit his second home run of the season in the bottom of the first. The two-run shot gave the River Hawks an early lead and big boost. The Chippewas got one back in the top of the second, but Rose sent one over the left field fence to put UMass Lowell ahead 4-1.
Keevan continued to pitch well for the River Hawks, forcing Central Michigan into a double play to end the top of the third. The freshman kept the Chippewas off the board while UMass Lowell added a fifth run in the top of the fifth inning. Keevan picked up two more strikeouts in the bottom of the inning.
Sophomore
Brendan Williams (Auburn, N.Y.) came into the game in the seventh inning and struck out two batters to bring the River Hawk offense back out. Siracusa added to the lead, drilling a solo shot to center for a 6-1 lead. Fish singled to left and scored after an error by Central Michigan.
The Chippewas did not go away quietly, scoring three runs in the top of the ninth to make it a 7-4 game. With two outs and runners on the corners, senior
Matt Draper (Lowell, Mass.) struck out the final Central Michigan batter to give the River Hawks the 7-4 victory.
Central Michigan was ranked #16 in the country in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll.
UMass Lowell closes out the weekend with another game against Central Michigan on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at the David L. Couch Ballpark.
