LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (15-28, 8-12 AE) took the series over NJIT (19-25, 8-9 AE) with a 5-1 win in game two. The River Hawks take the series and will look for the sweep on Sunday.
 
Graduate student Joshua Becker (Burlington, Mass.) went 8.0 innings and struck out eight to improve to 4-2 on the season. Freshman Jacob Jette (Franklin, Mass.) went 1.0 to close the game.
 
Graduate student Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) led the team with three RBIs, two runs and two hits. Sophomore Jacob Humphrey (Standish, Maine) had two runs and one hit while junior Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) and senior Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) had one hit and one RBI each.
 
Joshua Becker got off to a hot start with two strikeouts in the opening frame. Ryan Proto threw out Elcock at second to make quick work of the Highlanders in the first. The graduate student threw a 1-2-3 second inning with another strikeout. Frtiz Genther hit a leadoff single and moved to second on a bunt but was left stranded as the second ended. Becker struck out Ortiz with two on to bring the offense back to the plate, still tied at 0-0. Robert Gallagher hit a leadoff double but was left stranded.
 
Another 1-2-3 inning from Becker gave the River Hawks another chance to open the scoring in the bottom of the fourth. After back-to-back walks to start the inning, Ryan Proto doubled to center to bring in Siracusa and give UMass Lowell a 1-0 lead. Becker struck out another hitter and Proto threw out another runner stealing in the top of the fifth in another scoreless frame from the River Hawks' ace.
 
Jacob Humphrey hit a leadoff triple before Gerry Siracusa's single to right brought in the sophomore to double the River Hawks' lead. A sacrifice fly from Genther scored Siracusa to make it 3-0 UMass Lowell. Back-to-back strikeouts for Becker in seventh kept the Highlanders off the board.
 
The River Hawks opened the game up in the bottom of the seventh after junior Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.) and Jacob Humphrey came in to score on Siracusa's two RBI single to left field to make it a 5-0 game. The Highlanders got one back in the eighth on a two-out RBI single, cutting the lead to four. Becker got his eighth strikeout of the day to end the eighth inning.
 
Jacob Jette took over on the mound for the ninth and threw a scoreless frame to secure the win and the series victory for the River Hawks. Game three is set for 12:00 p.m. on Sunday at LeLacheur Park.