LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (23-27, 13-14 AE) fell to the Northeastern Huskies (27-25-1, 9-12 CAA) by a score of 4-3 in extra innings on Tuesday afternoon.
"You go late into a tournament, you're going to be pitching everybody," said head coach
Ken Harring. "I thought we showed some resiliency today. Plenty of learning experiences for a lot of our young guys today as well. We saw a lot of good things today, Brendan [Holland] was great, Drew [Haight] I thought was really good for us as well. They found a way to win today and we'll be back and ready to go on Thursday against Albany."
Sophomore
Jimmy Sullivan (East Hampton, Conn.) led the way with three hits on the afternoon. Freshman
Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.) tallied two hits and five other River Hawks recorded a hit in the loss.
On the mound, the River Hawks went to the bullpen and 10 pitchers saw time on the bump. Freshman
Brendan Holland (North Andover, Mass.) got the start and threw 3.0 innings, striking out three. Senior
Sal Fusco (Colonie, N.Y.) threw 1.0 innings and sat two. Senior
Matt Draper (Lowell, Mass.), sophomore
Michael Quigley (Halifax, Mass.) and sophomore
Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.) all tallied a strikeout on the afternoon.
Brendan Holland started the game with two strikeouts in the first inning and threw a 1-2-3 second inning, recording his third strikeout of the afternoon. The River Hawks put together a few hits in the second but left two runners stranded. Holland threw another scoreless inning, retiring the side in order.
Sal Fusco took over on the mound for the fourth inning for the River Hawks. Northeastern opened the scoring as Smith scored on a wild pitch, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. The senior struck out two to end the frame.
Brandon Fish hit a leadoff double to left center before advancing to third on
Jimmy Sullivan's single. Sophomore
Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases for freshman
Frank Wayman (Horseheads, N.Y.). The freshman lined out into a double play to end the inning.
In the fifth, junior
Frankie Venezia (Lydnhurst, N.J.) took the bump and threw a 1-2-3 inning to retire the side. The River Hawks could not get on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Freshman
Hayden Duke (Mattapoisett, Mass.) came out of the bullpen for the sixth inning and allowed just one hit, retiring the side in a scoreless inning. The offense again could not get on the board, leaving a runner stranded on third in the sixth.
The River Hawks continued to use the bullpen as junior
Brian Gaughan (Walpole, Mass.) entered the game for the seventh inning.
Frank Wayman hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh before a bunt from freshman
Jake Fitzgibbons (Franklin, Mass.) put two runners on. A sacrifice bunt from sophomore
Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) advanced the runners to second and third. Freshman
Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) was walked to load the bases for senior
Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) with one out. The senior's sacrifice fly scored Wayman to tie the game at 1-1.
Freshman
Drew Haight (Duxbury, Mass.) took over in the eighth and escaped the inning leaving runners stranded on the corners to keep the game tied. Senior
Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.) pinch hit in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded and hit a sacrifice fly to score
Conor Kelly to put the River Hawks in front 2-1. The Huskies tied the game in the top of the ninth and had runners on the corners with two outs.
Matt Draper struck out Darakjy swinging to end the inning with the game tied at two.
In the bottom of the ninth,
Gerry Siracusa was walked before
Brandon Fish put two runners on with a single to left field. Siracusa and Fish advanced on a wild pitch, putting runners on second and third. The River Hawks left two stranded as the game headed to extra innings.
Michael Quigley came in for UMass Lowell and made a nice barehanded play to first for the first out of the inning. The sophomore got out of a jam with runners on the corners, sending the game into the bottom of the tenth. The River Hawks went down in order moving the game to the eleventh.
Northeastern took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eleventh as the River Hawks offense returned to the plate.
Alex Luccini was walked before
Gerry Siracusa doubled down the left field line to score the freshman, tying the game at three. UMass Lowell could not find the winning run, sending the game into the twelfth inning. The Huskies took a 4-3 lead in the twelfth inning and held on to win the game.