The UMass Lowell baseball team is set to begin the 2024 season at High Point on Friday, February 16. Nick Barese enters his first season at the helm of the program after being named Head Coach in August. 

The River Hawks were picked sixth in the America East Preseason Poll, as announced by the league office on January 24.

Fritz Genther and Ryan Proto were named team captains in the fall and will lead the team into the new campaign. Proto enters his fifth season as the River Hawks’ backstop while Genther is set for his third season in Lowell. 

UMass Lowell returns pitchers LJ Keevan, Brian Foley, Nick DiRito and Jacob Jette, all set to be in weekend rotations this season. The bullpen returns veterans Frankie Venezia, Zach Fortuna, Miles Cota and Brendan Williams while adding transfer students Dylan Bedder, Andres Hulfachor, Jack Sefrino and Kevin Zarnoch. 

Alex Luccini, Brandon Fish, Roddy Hernandez, Trey Brown, Conor Kelly and Matt Tobin all return to the team, giving Barese plenty of experience in his dugout. The fielding unit also adds transfer students Carlos Martinez and Anthony Marcano to the lineup.

The freshmen class consists of 11 players, including pitchers James Capellupo, Owen Hoyt, Alfred Mucciarone, Cam Sime and Kevin Rourke. Scotty Brown, Scott Donahue, Sean O’Leary, Ryan Strand, River Hart and Maico Cardona bring plenty of talent on the field and at the plate to complete the rookie class.

A four-game weekend against High Point opens the season for UMass Lowell, followed by a weekend series at William & Mary. The non-conference road trip continues as the River Hawks will travel to Kansas State for three games to open March. Two midweek games at the home of the College World Series against Creighton precedes a weekend visit to Oral Roberts starting March 8.

March 22 kicks off the America East slate as UAlbany comes to town for a weekend series. A Tuesday matchup at Fairfield and three league games at NJIT close out the month of March. 

April begins with midweek home games against Dartmouth and Stonehill before a weekend series at Binghamton. Merrimack and Maine come to Lowell April 9-14 before the reverse matchup at Merrimack and Bryant the next week. 

NJIT visits Lowell for three games to close out the America East regular season campaign. The season wraps up at LeLacheur with an afternoon tilt against Northeastern on May 14 before a doubleheader against Marist on May 16.

The America East tournament will take place May 21-25 at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York, hosted by Binghamton.