ORONO, Maine – The UMass Lowell baseball team (4-19, 0-5 AE) fell to the Maine Black Bears (11-11, 5-0 AE) in the Friday doubleheader. The Black Bears took game one 8-3 and game two 9-8.
 
Game 1
 
Graduate student Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.) led the way with two hits and two RBIs on the afternoon. Seniors Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) and Matt Tobin (Poland, N.Y.) each tallied one hit and scored one run.
 
Graduate student Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) added one hit while senior Frank Wayman (Horseheads, N.Y.) scored one run. Graduate student Matt Draper (Lowell, Mass.) threw 4.1 innings and struck out two. Draper falls to 1-4 on the season.
 
Matt Draper escaped jam in the first with two runners in scoring position and struck out one. After the River Hawks went three up, three down in the second, Maine's offense exploded for six runs on five hits in the bottom of the second to take 6-0 lead. Draper threw a scoreless third as the game moved to the fourth with the Black Bears in command.
 
Maine tacked on three runs in the fifth to extend the lead to nine in a shortened first game of the doubleheader. UMass Lowell got on the board in the top of the seventh as Ryan Proto scored on a throwing error. With two on, Robert Gallagher singled to right field to bring in both runners and cut the lead to six. Two batters struck out to end the first game of the doubleheader.
 
Game 2
 
Junior Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) and Ryan Proto tallied two hits in game two, with Genther scoring one run and one RBI. Sophomore Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) had one hit and two RBIs and fellow sophomore Jacob Humphrey (Standish, Maine) scored two runs with two RBIs.
 
Freshman Jacob Jette (Franklin, Mass.) went 3.2 innings with four strikeouts. Junior Brendan Williams (Auburn, N.Y.) threw 3.0 innings with one earned run and two strikeouts. Junior Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.) threw a scoreless inning with one punchout.
 
Genther's two-out triple in the first inning of game two before coming in to score as Gerry Siracusa reached second on a throwing error. Jacob Jette looked sharp on the mound, throwing three scoreless innings to keep the visitors in front.
 
Jette struck out two in the fourth, but a two-out single down the right field line scored two runs to put Maine in front. A three-run homerun extended the Black Bears' lead to 5-1. Michael Simes entered the game with two outs and the bases loaded before a double to left scored three, pushing the lead the seven. Maine scored eight runs on five hits in the fourth.
 
The River Hawk offense found life in the fifth, scoring two runs with two outs. Alex Luccini's triple to right field brought in Jacob Humphrey from first to cut the lead to six. After Fritz Genther drew a walk, Gerry Siracusa hit an RBI single to make it an 8-3 game.
 
Zach Fortuna entered the game for the bottom of the fifth and struck out one in a 1-2-3 inning. Jacob Humphrey's single with the bases loaded scored two before Alex Luccini's fly out brought in Conor Kelly, cutting the lead to two runs. Fritz Genther singled through the left side to score Humphrey to bring UMass Lowell within one.
 
Brendan Williams struck out one in a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth to bring the River Hawk offense back to the plate. Ryan Proto hit a leadoff single before stealing second before eventually scoring on a wild pitch to tie the game.
 
Maine tacked on a run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 9-8 lead. The River Hawks went down in order in the ninth and the Black Bears took game two.
 
Game three of the weekend series is set for 4:00 p.m. at Mahaney Diamond.