VESTAL, N.Y. – The #4 UMass Lowell baseball team (24-30, 11-12 AE) fell to the #1 Bryant Bulldogs (34-19, 17-7 AE) 8-4 in game three of the postseason tournament. The River Hawks await the loser of #2 UMBC and #3 NJIT to face off in an elimination game Friday, May 24 at 11:00 a.m.
 
Junior Conor Kelly (Hopkinton, Mass.) went 2-3 on the day with one run and one RBI. Juniors Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.) and Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) each went 2-4, with Luccini adding one run. Seniors Trey Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) and Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) recorded an RBI on the afternoon.
 
Graduate student Miles Cota (Hampstead, NC) fell to 2-2 on the year after 3.2 innings with six earned run and two strikeouts. Senior Andres Hulfachor (Nashua, N.H.) went 2.1 innings with two earned runs and two strikeouts. Senior Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.) and sophomore Brian Foley (Milton, Mass.) each went 1.0 inning and allowed a combined three hits.
 
The River Hawks went down in order in the first inning and Bryant took a 1-0 lead with a leadoff solo home run to right field. Cota retired back-to-back hitters before a two-run home run pushed Bryant's lead to three. The graduate student ended the inning with a strikeout, but the Bulldogs had the early edge.
 
Cota opened the second with a strikeout before graduate student Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) made a nice grab in foul territory for the second out of the frame. Senior Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.) made a great play for the final out, flicking the ball out of his glove to get the runner out at first.
 
Conor Kelly tallied the first hit of the day for the River Hawks with a leadoff single to right field. Brandon Fish followed with a double to right center to put runners on second and third. Trey Brown grounded out to bring in Kelly and get UMass Lowell on the board to cut the lead to 3-1. Bryant answered with their third homer of the game to push the lead back to three through three innings.
 
UMass Lowell's offense got going in the fourth with Alex Luccini hitting a leadoff single before sophomore Carlos Martinez (Coamo, Puerto Rico) drew a walk. Proto's bunt loaded the bases with nobody out for freshman Sean O'Leary (Foxboro, Mass.). The rookie was hit by a pitch to score a run and cut the lead to two, still with the bases loaded. Conor Kelly's sacrifice fly scored Martinez and made it a one-run game.
 
Andres Hulfachor took over on the mound in the bottom of the fourth and ended the frame with one pitch, but Bryant pushed the lead to three. Fritz Genther hit a solo shot to right center in the top of the fifth to make it a two-run game once again. Alex Luccini tallied another hit, but a double play ended the frame. Hulfachor struck out two in a scoreless bottom half of the inning.
 
The bottom of the order continued to play well for the River Hawks with Kelly and Fish picking up their second hits of the afternoon in the top of the sixth. Both runners were left stranded, however, as UMass Lowell still trailed by two. Bryant tallied two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Zach Fortuna took over for the seventh and retired the side with just one hit. Brian Foley threw a scoreless eighth, but the River Hawks went down in order in the ninth and fell 8-4 in game two.
 
UMass Lowell will return to the field on Friday, May 24 at 11:00 a.m. Their opponent will be the loser of the final game on Wednesday, either #2 UMBC or #3 NJIT.