LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (16-28, 9-12 AE) completed the weekend sweep of the NJIT Highlanders (19-26, 8-10 AE) with a dominant 17-8 win on Sunday afternoon.
 
Sophomore LJ Keevan (Holden, Mass.) improved to 2-5 after 4.0 innings with three strikeouts. Senior Miles Cota (Hampstead, NC) went 3.2 innings with three strikeouts and six earned runs.
 
Junior Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) led the team with four hits and four runs on the afternoon and added three RBIs. Graduate student Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.) had three hits, three runs and two RBIs while senior Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) added three runs, two hits and two RBIs. Senior Frank Wayman (Horseheads, N.Y.) had two hits with two RBIs and one run.
 
Miles Cota threw seven pitches in a scoreless, efficient first inning. Robert Gallagher hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the first, a deep shot to right center, to give UMass Lowell the early lead. The Highlanders scored three in the top of the third on just hit to take the lead. UMass Lowell got one back in the bottom of the inning to make it a one-run game through three.  
 
The Highlanders tacked on another run in the fourth to push the lead back to two runs on an RBI single to left field. Freshman Michael Simes (Rutland, Mass.) came in for Cota with the bases loaded before NJIT scored three more runs to push the lead to 7-2. The defense helped the freshman pitcher with 5-3 double play to end the top of the fifth with the River Hawks still trailing by five.
 
Robert Gallagher got on with a base hit to left before Fritz Genther's two-run blast to left field made it a 7-4 game in the bottom of the fifth. Ryan Proto and sophomore Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) followed with back-to-back, one-out singles to put runners on the corners. Senior Trey Brown's (Rochester, N.Y.) sacrifice fly brought in Proto and moved Luccini to second before Frank Wayman's line drive base hit scored the sophomore to make it a one-run game. With runners on the corners, junior Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.) found the gap to left and brought in the tying run.
 
LJ Keevan took over on the mound for the sixth inning. NJIT took the lead in the top half of the frame on a sacrifice fly. Trey Brown hit another sacrifice fly to score Genther and tie the game before Wayman's RBI single to left brought in Proto to give UMass Lowell the lead.
 
The runs kept coming as Robert Gallagher's RBI double and a sacrifice fly from Proto gave the River Hawks a three-run cushion through seven. Trey Brown's added an RBI single to center scored Genther to push the lead to 12-8. The senior came in to score on a balk to give the hosts a five-run lead late.
 
Fritz Genther brought in his third run of the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth as the River Hawks' offense continued to pile on the runs. Ryan Proto's second hit of the afternoon scored Humphrey and Alex Luccini sacrifice fly pushed the lead to 16-8. Freshman Trevor Crosby (North Andover, Mass.) pinch hit and hit an RBI single on the first pitch he saw to further extend the lead.
 
Keevan closed out the ninth and secured the win for the River Hawks, completing the weekend sweep. UMass Lowell returns to action on Tuesday, May 9 to host Massachusetts. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m.