FORT MYERS, Fla. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (0-4, 0-0 AE) fell to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (5-1, 0-0 ASUN) in game one of the weekend series, 8-2, on Friday night.
 
Graduate student Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) led the team with two hits and one run scored while sophomore Jacob Humphrey (Standish, ME.) recorded a triple and scored one run. Seniors Trey Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) and Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.) each tallied an RBI.
 
Sophomore LJ Keevan (Holden, Mass.) fell to 0-2 on the year, throwing 2.1 innings with two strikeouts and seven earned runs. Sophomore Hayden Duke (Mattapoisett, Mass.), senior Frankie Venezia (Lyndhurst, N.J.) and graduate students Shane Bogli (Vernon, Conn.) and Zach Rodgers (Parrish, Fla.) threw scoreless innings for the River Hawks.
 
"LJ [Keevan] had a tough outing and we didn't support him with any kind of offense," said head coach Ken Harring. "We were just fighting it offensively, but we showed a little life at the end of the game."
 
Gerry Siracusa's two-out single in the first inning was the River Hawks' lone hit in the first four innings of Friday's contest. FGCU's Jason Woodward threw 5.0 innings and struck out 10, frustrating the UMass Lowell offense. LJ Keevan picked up his two strikeouts in the bottom of the first, sitting both hitters down swinging. The hosts got on the board in the bottom of the second with back-to-back solo home runs and an RBI single to take an early 3-0 lead.  
 
Woodward pitched well and kept UMass Lowell off the board, allowing the Eagles a chance to extend their lead. Three base hits in the bottom of the third pushed the lead to 7-0 heading into the fourth. The River Hawks were retired in order while FGCU added one more to make it an 8-0 game. Brendan Williams came in relief of Keevan and struck out one in 1.2 innings.
 
In the fifth, Frank Wayman's base hit put a runner on and the senior advanced to second on a wild pitch with two outs. The River Hawks could not take advantage of the runner in scoring position and left Wayman stranded. Hayden Duke threw a scoreless fifth with one strikeout and Ryan Proto made a nice throw to third to gun down the runner for the final out of the frame.  
 
After two scoreless innings, the River Hawks offense found life in the top of eighth. Humphrey's triple to right center set up Trey Brown's sacrifice fly that got UMass Lowell on the board. Gerry Siracusa and Brandon Fish tallied hits to put two runners on before Robert Gallagher's single to right scored Siracusa to make an 8-2 game. The comeback effort was cut short in the eighth and FGCU held on to win game one. Shane Bogli threw an impressive 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, picking up a strikeout to end the inning.
 
Game two is set for 1:00 p.m. at Swanson Stadium. Freshman Brian Foley (Milton, Mass.) is expected to get the start against FGCU's Mason Miller.