LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (23-29, 11-12 AE) split the doubleheader against the Marist Red Foxes (18-33, 10-14 MAAC) on Friday afternoon at LeLacheur Park.
 
Game 1
 
Seniors Trey Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) and Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) tallied two this each and combined for three runs while graduate student Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) and junior Conor Kelly (Hopkinton, Mass.) also tallied two hits apiece. Kelly led the team with three RBI in game one. Genther and sophomore Carlos Martinez (Coamo, Puerto Rico) scored two runs each.
 
Senior Andres Hulfachor (Nashua, N.H.) earned the win to improve to 1-1 on the season. Seven pitchers went 1.0 inning while senior Brendan Williams (Auburn, N.Y.) went 1.1 scoreless innings. Senior Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.) went 1.0 inning with one strikeout and graduate student Frankie Venezia (Lyndhurst, N.J.) closed the game with a strong 0.2 inning showing with one strikeout.
 
Michael Simes got the start for game one and retired the side in order with a big strikeout to end the first. Ryan Proto picked off a runner at first for the second out of the second inning, but a single to center gave Marist a 1-0 lead. Conor Kelly's single to right scored two to give UMass Lowell the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Marist tied the game with one run in the top of the third.
 
Alex Luccini's RBI single scored Fritz Genther to restore the lead for the hosts in the bottom of the third. Kelly tallied his third RBI of the day to score Luccini from third and double the lead. Genther's RBI double in the fourth scored Brown from first to push the lead to three runs. Carlos Martinez tacked on another run with an RBI single to right, pushing the lead to four after four innings.
 
Marist had runners on the corners in the fifth with two outs before Kevin Zarnoch ended the frame with a big swinging strikeout. The River Hawks continued to go a new pitcher every inning as Jacob Jette threw a 1-2-3 sixth frame.
 
The bullpen did its job and shut down the Marist offense through seven innings. Brendan Williams got the first hitter of the eighth before Zach Fortuna took over on the mound.
 
Fortuna got a groundout and some help from Trey Brown's diving catch to get out of the eighth with nothing across. Frankie Venezia closed the game with a big strikeout as the River Hawks took game one of the doubleheader 7-2.
 
 
 
Game 2
 
 
Junior Anthony Marcano (Boston, Mass.) tallied one hit and one run while freshman Sean O'Leary (Foxboro, Mass.) added one hit and one RBI. Freshmen River Hart (Nashua, N.H.) and Ryan Strand (Goffstown, N.H.) each tallied one hit and one RBI.
 
Sophomore Brian Foley (Milton, Mass.) closed the game and struck out two while freshman James Capellupo (Hilton, N.Y.) went 1.0 inning with one strikeout.
 
Graduate student Miles Cota (Hampstead, NC) got the start and Ryan Proto made his 200^th career appearance for the River Hawks in game two of the doubleheader. Cota threw a quick scoreless first before junior LJ Keevan (Holden, mass.)  took over for the second, throwing another scoreless frame.
 
Marist took the lead in the third behind a sacrifice fly. Graduate student Dylan Bedder (New Providence, N.J.) escaped the inning with a groundout to short with UMass Lowell trailing by one. Freshman River Hart's (Nashua, N.H.) RBI single in the bottom half scored redshirt-sophomore Spencer Aubin (Dover, N.H.) to tie the game. UMass Lowell loaded the bases with two outs but left all three runners stranded.
 
The Red Foxes regained the lead in the fourth with a one-out single into right field. Freshman Scotty Brown (Andover, Mass.) made a nice diving catch in center field for the second out before Marist put two runners on. The Red Foxes tallied three runs to lead 4-1 in the fourth. UMass Lowell could not find a rhythm offensively and Marist pushed the lead to five with two runs in the fifth inning.
 
A solo homer in the sixth gave Marist a 7-1 lead before James Capellupo ended the inning with a strikeout. Anthony Marcano and Ryan Strand hit doubles to tack on another run for the River Hawks, cutting the lead to five in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Brian Foley struck out two and Conor Kelly made a great plat at shortstop for the final out of the inning. UMass Lowell trailed 7-2 heading into the final frame and drew back-to-back walks to open the seventh.
 
Sean O'Leary hit a one-out single to right to score Rob Geisler from second and cut the lead to 7-3. UMass Lowell fell in game two to split the doubleheader.
 
Next up, the River Hawks await their seeding and opponent for the America East Tournament in Binghamton at the Bearcats Sports Complex on Wednesday, May 22.