VESTAL, N.Y. – The #4 UMass Lowell baseball team (24-31, 11-12 AE) fell to the #3 NJIT Highlanders (26-27, 12-11 AE) 8-6 in Friday's elimination game. The River Hawks' season comes to an end.
 
Senior Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) went 3-5 with two runs and one RBI while fellow senior Trey Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) went 2-4 with two RBI and one run. Freshman Scott Donahue (Medfield, Mass.) had two hits on the day and junior Conor Kelly (Hopkinton, Mass.) went 2-3 with one run.
 
Freshman Alfred Mucciarone (Franklin, Mass.) got the start and went 4.1 innings with three strikeouts. Fellow freshman Cam Sime (Pittsfield, Mass.) went a strong 2.2 innings with two strikeouts. Senior Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.) and Andres Hulfachor (Nashua, N.H.) went a combined 1.0 inning and did not allow a hit.
 
Fritz Genther tallied the first hit of the afternoon with a one-out single to center field. The senior came in to score after sophomore Carlos Martinez (Coamo, Puerto Rico) hit his 26^th double of the year to right field, giving UMass Lowell the early lead. Mucciarone got two quick outs before a double put the tying run on second. The freshman got out of the inning behind a line drive catch from Conor Kelly.
 
NJIT tied the game in the bottom of the second with a leadoff solo home run. The Highlanders put together back-to-back hits to put runners on the corners. Mucciarone struck out Francis and forced a fly out for two quick outs before escaping the jam with a pop fly. The freshman threw a 1-2-3 third, ending the frame with a big strikeout, to keep the game tied.
 
The River Hawks left the bases loaded in the in top of the fourth, leaving the game tied. UMass Lowell's defense turned a beautiful 6-4-3 double play in the bottom half of the frame before Mucciarone ended the inning with another punchout.
 
Fritz Genter's single and junior Alex Luccini's (Hopedale, Mass.) double put runners on second and third in the top of the fifth. Ryan Proto followed with a triple to right center to score two give UMass Lowell the 3-1 lead.
 
NJIT answered in the bottom half of the inning with five runs on five hits. After the Highlanders took a 6-3 lead, Cam Sime entered the game for Mucciarone and struck out the first hitter he faced. A groundout to short ended the inning with UMass Lowell trailing by three. Sime tallied another strikeout in a scoreless sixth inning to keep the deficit at three.
 
Trey Brown drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch before Genther's RBI double scored the senior and cut the lead to two in the top of the seventh. Two runners were left stranded after a double play ended the frame.
 
Conor Kelly got on in the eighth before freshman River Hart (Nashua, N.H.) pinch hit for senior Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.). The freshman doubled to left to put runners on second and third. Trey Brown swung at the first pitch he saw and singled to right field, scoring both runners and tying the game at 6-6.
 
The Highlanders answered immediately with a leadoff solo home run in the bottom half of the inning. NJIT tacked on an eighth run before Zach Fortuna took over on the mound. The senior escaped a jam with runners on second and third to keep UMass Lowell within two as the game moved to the ninth.
 
Ryan Proto was hit by a pitch with two outs to put a runner on for the River Hawks. Scott Donahue followed with a single to put two on and bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Conor Kelly drew a walk to load the bases, but the River Hawks could not find the tying run as the season comes to an end.