HIGH POINT, N.C. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (2-1) split doubleheader with the High Point Panthers (1-2) on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers took game one 6-1 and the River Hawks claimed an 11-9 win in game two.
 
"Really good bounce back for us in game two. The offense was consistent the entire game, and what Carlos [Martinez] did was pretty special," said head coach Nick Barese. "[Michael] Simes was fantastic out of the bullpen, and it was great seeing Andres [Hulfachor] bounce back to shut the door."
 
Game 1
 
Sophomore Carlos Martinez (Coamo, Puerto Rico) tallied one hit and one RBI while freshman Sean O'Leary (Foxboro, Mass.) added one hit. Senior Trey Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) had one hit and one walk to go with one run scored.
 
Senior Brendan Williams (Auburn, N.Y.) went 4.0 innings with three strikeouts and three earned runs. Fellow senior Frankie Venezia (Lyndurst, N.J.) went 2.2 innings with one walk and two strikeouts.
 
Brendan Williams tallied one strikeout in the first frame, but High Point took the lead after scoring four runs with two outs. O'Leary recorded his third hit of the weekend with a single to right center, but two runners were left stranded in the second.
 
Carlos Martinez doubled the left in the third to score Trey Brown and move junior Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) to third, getting the River Hawks on the board. The Panthers tacked on a run in the bottom half of the inning to restore the four-run lead. A two-out double scored another run in the fourth as High Point took control heading to the fifth inning.
 
Senior Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.)  took over on the mound for the fifth inning with Williams exiting the game after 4.0 innings and three strikeouts. Fortuna threw a scoreless frame with one hit to close the inning. After five scoreless frames High Point took game one of the doubleheader 6-1.
 
Game 2
 
Martinez went off in game two, hitting three homeruns, scoring four runs and bringing in five RBIs. Sean O'Leary and senior Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.) tallied two hits each and combined for three RBIs. Junior Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.) scored two runs and drew one walk.
 
Sophomore Jacob Jette (Franklin, Mass.) earned his first win of the season after throwing 5.0 innings with four strikeouts and two earned runs. Fellow sophomore Michael Simes (Rutland, Mass.) went 2.2 innings with two strikeouts and three hits. Senior Andres Hulfahcor (Nashua, N.H.) earned his first save of the season, coming in for the ninth inning and shutting the door for the River Hawks.
 
The River Hawks jumped out to an early lead after Martinez hit his first homerun of the year, a two-run shot to left center. The Panthers answered in the bottom half of the frame with a three-run homerun to take the lead. Trey Brown and Carlos Martinez hit two-run homeruns in the fourth and fifth innings as UMass Lowell built a 6-3 lead.
 
After a solo shot from High Point in the bottom of the fifth, the River Hawks pushed the lead back to four in the sixth inning. Roddy Hernandez doubled down the left field line to score O'Leary. Junior Jake Fitzgibbons (Franklin, Mass.) scored on a passed ball to make it an 8-4 game.    
 
High Point tallied three runs in the bottom of the sixth behind two more homeruns, cutting the lead to 8-7. Martinez had the hot hand all day and hit his third homerun of the game in the top of the seventh, a solo shot to give UMass Lowell a two-run edge.
 
Sean O'Leary's single to right in the top of the ninth scored two more as the River Hawks looked to close the game out. Despite two runs from the Panthers in the bottom of the ninth, Andres Hulfachor shut the door and secured the win for UMass Lowell.
 
The series finale is set for 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at Williard Stadium.