LOWELL, Mass. – Junior Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) went 4-5 on the afternoon, capped off with a walk-off single to lead the UMass Lowell baseball team (13-19, 4-5 AE) to a thrilling 11-10 win over the Maine Black Bears (8-21, 4-5 AE) on Saturday afternoon. The River Hawks even the series with the victory ahead of Sunday's finale.

"Offensively we were great today. We have a veteran group and they set the tone early with four runs in the first," said head coach Nick Barese. "Our bullpen kept us in the game and we continued to chip away. Trey has been huge all season and with Alex stepping up there at the end, I've said it before, there's no one I'd rather have in that spot." 
 
Luccini led the team with four RBIs on the day while sophomore Carlos Martinez (Coamo, Puerto Rico) added two hits and three RBIs. Senior Trey Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) scored two runs to go with two hits and two RBIs while fellow senior Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) went 4-5 with three runs scored.
 
Senior Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.) improved to 2-0 on the season after striking out two in 1.0 inning to seal the win. Graduate student Kevin Zarnoch Jr. (Boston, Mass.) had a strong outing going 2.0 innings with one hit and one strikeout. Senior Andres Hulfachor (Nashua, N.H.) was outstanding on Saturday, striking out four in 2.0 innings of work out of the bullpen.
 
Freshman Alfred Mucciarone (Franklin, Mass.) got the start and threw a scoreless first inning for the River Hawks before Trey Brown and Fritz Genther hit back-to-back singles in the bottom of the first. A wild pitch advanced the runners and a sacrifice fly from Alex Luccini scored Brown to give UMass Lowell the lead.
 
Carlos Martinez hit an RBI single to double the advantage in the first frame. A double down the left field line from graduate student Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) scored Martinez from first, pushing the lead to 3-0. After advancing on a wild pitch, the graduate student came in to score on junior Conor Kelly's (Hopkinton, Mass.) single to center to make it four runs on five hits in the first.
 
The Black Bears had runners on second and third before Mucciarone earned his first strikeout of the day for the second out of the inning. Maine tallied three runs on a double to right center to cut the lead to one. The visitors then took the lead in the fourth with seven runs on nine hits to go ahead 10-4. Alex Luccini got one back in the bottom half with an RBI single to make it a five-run game.
 
Luccini brought in another run with a single to right field with one out in the sixth, cutting the lead down to four runs. Carlos Martinez doubled to deep center to bring in Genther and Luccini as the River Hawks continued to chip away at the lead, now trailing by two.
 
Andres Hulfachor took over on the mound for the seventh inning and struck out the side emphatically to bring the offense back to the plate. Trey Brown reached on an infield error that scored junior Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.) to make it a one-run game. Hulfachor struck out one and saw Fish make a great throw to first to end the inning, keeping the deficit to one.
 
After the River Hawks were retired in the eighth, Zach Fortuna took the mound for the ninth. The senior struck out two to give the River Hawks one more chance at the plate. Brandon Fish's single got a runner on and the junior advanced to second on a groundout.
 
 Trey Brown drilled one to left field to score Fish and tie the game. Freshman Scotty Brown (Andover, Mass.) pinch ran and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Genther drew a walk to put two on with two out. Alex Luccini stepped up to the plate and smacked one to center, scoring Brown from second to give UMass Lowell the 11-10 win and even the weekend series.
 
The series finale is set for 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 14 at LeLacheur Park.