SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (15-20, 6-6 AE) struggled to get the offense going as they fell 6-1 in game one of the weekend series against the Bryant Bulldogs (24-11, 12-1 AE) on Friday afternoon.
 
"I thought both sides pitched really well. Michael Simes settled in nicely and did a good job for us," said head coach Nick Barese. "The bullpen looked solid again. Wainer did a great job commanding both sides of the plate with his fastball and mixing in his slider. It's tough to string together hits against a guy throwing like that."
 
Sophomore Michael Simes (Rutland, Mass.) fell to 1-2 on the season after 6.0 innings with four strikeouts and four earned runs. Senior Andres Hulfachor (Nashua, N.H.) and graduate student Kevin Zarnoch Jr. (Boston, Mass.) had strong appearances late in the game with Hulfachor striking out the lone batter he faced and Zarnoch throwing a 1-2-3 inning.
 
Graduate student Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) hit his first homer of the year and juniors Conor Kelly (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.) tallied hits on the afternoon. Fellow junior Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) went 1-3 on the day.
 
The River Hawks went down in order in the first inning before the hosts took a 3-0 lead in the bottom half of the frame. Simes tallied his first strikeout of the day in the second, but Bryant's offense continued to roll early on with another run to push the lead to four.
 
UMass Lowell's offense struggled to find a rhythm as Bryant's Wainer was dealing on the mound. Simes recorded his third strikeout of the day in a scoreless fourth. The River Hawks went four innings without a hit before Conor Kelly's single in the fifth, but the junior was left stranded.
 
Ryan Proto got the visitors on the board with his first homer of the season, a deep shot to left field, making it a three-run game. Zach Fortuna took over in the seventh inning as Michael Simes finished the day with four strikeouts and four earned runs.
 
A throwing error in the bottom of the seventh put two runners on that came in a score on a single to left, stretching the hosts' lead to five runs. Andres Hulfachor entered the game with two outs and the bases loaded to get out of the seventh. The graduate student's strikeout ended the frame as he finished the day with one inning of work.
 
After the River Hawks were held scoreless in the eighth, Kevin Zarnoch Jr. took over on the mound and threw a 1-2-3 inning. UMass Lowell went down in order in the ninth and fell 6-1 in game one.
 
"It comes down to timely hitting and making tough defensive plays in a game like that, and Bryant executed a few more times than we did," added Barese. "I'm confident we'll come out tomorrow ready to even the series."
 
Game two is set for 1:00 p.m. at Conaty Park Saturday, April 20.