UNIVERSITY PARK, Penn. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (6-11) tied the weekend series against the Penn State Nittany Lions (10-6) with an 11-9 win in game two.
 
"Big team win. When this offense is right, we never feel out of a game, and it gives everyone else confidence," said head coach Nick Barese. "The two-strike and two-out hitting was great. The bullpen kept us in thew game [James] Capellupo continues to come up big in the most important spots."
 
Sophomore Michael Simes (Rutland, Mass.) earned his first win this season after 3.0 frames with one strikeout and one earned run. Freshman James Capellupo (Hilton, N.Y.) earned his second save of the season with 2.2 innings of work with one hit and one strikeout.
 
Junior Conor Kelly (Hopkinton, Mass.) tallied two hits and scored a team-high three runs. Senior Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.) added two hits and four RBIs to lead the offense. Sophomore Carlos Martinez (Coamo, Puerto Rico) and graduate student Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) each registered two hits, one run and one RBI each.
 
Conor Kelly hit a leadoff double in the second inning to get a runner on for the River Hawks. A fly out moved Kelly to third before an RBI groundout for Brandon Fish scored the game's opening run. Penn State answered with three homers in the bottom of the second to take a 6-1 lead.
 
Michael Simes took over on the mound and struck out one to get out of the second and then threw a 1-2-3 third frame. Carlos Martinez drew a walk before Ryan Proto's single put two on. Kelly drew a walk to load the bases and a fielding error allowed a run to come in and keep the bases loaded.
 
Fish reached on a fielder's choice as the River Hawks tacked on a third run still with just one out and runners on the corners. Fish stole second before River hart doubled to right field to score two runs and make it a one-run game. Senior Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.) tied the game with an RBI single and then stole second before moving to third on a throwing error.
 
Carlos Martinez followed with a two-out RBI single that gave UMass Lowell the lead. The offense kept rolling with Proto's RBI double scoring a sixth run of the inning for the River Hawks. Penn State cut the lead to 8-7 through four frames.
 
Sophomore Brian Foley (Milton, Mass.)  entered the game for Simes and threw a scoreless fifth inning. The sophomore got some help in the sixth after the defense turned a 4-6-3 double play to send the game to the seventh. Conor Kelly bunted before a double from senior Fritz Genther (Kingston, Mass.) put two on for Brandon Fish. The junior's single to right scored two to extend the lead to three.
 
Penn State cut the deficit to one with a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. James Capellupo took over on the mound with one out and a one-run lead. The Nittany Lions had two on, but the freshman escaped the jam and kept the River Hawks in front.
 
Senior Trey Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) and Roddy Hernandez drew walks to open the eighth before Luccini's bunt led to a throwing error that scored Brown and gave UMass Lowell a two-run lead. Capellupo struck out Marr to send the game into the ninth with the River Hawks in front by two.
 
Capellupo threw a scoreless ninth and earned his second save of the season. The series wraps up on Saturday, March 16 at 2:00 p.m. at Medlar Field.