LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (21-26, 10-11 AE) fell to the NJIT Highlanders (20-24, 9-9 AE) 10-4 in game one of the weekend series on Friday afternoon.
 
Sophomore Carlos Martinez (Coamo, Puerto Rico) led the team going 3-5 with one RBI while junior Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) tallied two hits and two RBI to go with one run. Freshmen Scott Donahue (Medfield, Mass.) and Ryan Strand (Goffstown, N.H.) each tallied two hits.
 
Sophomore Michael Simes (Rutland, Mass.) fell to 2-4 on the year after 5.1 innings of work with four strikeouts. Freshman James Capellupo (Hilton, N.Y.) and senior Andres Hulfachor (Nashua, N.H.) each tallied one strikeout.
 
Simes started the game with a scoreless first frame and recorded his first strikeout of the game to end the inning. The Highlanders loaded the bases in the top of the second with one out before the River Hawks' defense turned a big 4-6-3 double play to escape the jam and keep the visitors off the board.
 
UMass Lowell got on the board in the third after Alex Luccini stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Carlos Martinez drilled one up the middle to score Luccini and put the River Hawks ahead 1-0 through three. The defense turned another double play in the fourth to get both NJIT runners before a flyout ended the inning.
 
NJIT loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth as senior Kevin Zarnoch Jr. (Boston, Mass.)  entered the game for Simes. Back-to-back singles to right field scored four runs and put NJIT ahead by three. Andres Hulfachor took over for Zarnoch and escaped the inning and tallied one strikeout.
 
 The River Hawks left one stranded in the bottom of the sixth, still trailing by three. A lead off solo home run made it a 6-1 game. Jacob Jette ended the inning, and the offense went down in order to send the game to the eighth.
 
UMass Lowell's offense found some life in the bottom of the eighth inning. Scott Donahue and Ryan Strand hit back-to-back singles before freshman Anthony Marcano's (Boston, Mass.) single to left loaded the bases with one out. A sacrifice fly from junior Conor Kelly (Hopkinton, Mass.) scored Donahue to cut the lead to four. Alex Luccini's single to center scored two to make it a 6-4 game heading to the ninth.
 
Sophomore Brian Foley (Milton, Mass.)  struck out the first hitter of the ninth before a one-out double down the left field line restored the three-run lead for NJIT. The Highlanders tacked on four more runs to take a commanding 10-4 lead into the final frame. UMass Lowell could not get back into the game and fell in game one.
 
Game two is set for 1:00 p.m. at LeLacheur Park on Saturday afternoon.