LOWELL, Mass. (April 3, 2008) – Jim Fuller (Marlborough, Mass.) struck out 11 River Hawks in eight innings on the mound as Southern Connecticut defeated UMass Lowell, 9-2, Thursday in Northeast-10 baseball action at LeLacheur Park.

The Owls improve to 13-12 overall and 3-3 in the Northeast-10 with the victory. SCSU snapped a two-game losing streak with the win. The loss drops the River Hawks to 8-14 overall and 5-3 in the NE-10.

Fuller allowed just one run on three hits and walked just one over eight innings of work to improve to 5-1 on the season. The sophomore lefthander fanned 11 and had a stretch in which he retired 12 straight River Hawks beginning in the third inning.

Offensively Southern Connecticut struck for five runs on six hits and sent 10 men to the plate in the fifth inning. Andrew Babb (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Billy Hite (Shelton, Conn.) each had run-scoring doubles in the fifth. Hite’s double plated two runs.

Karl Derbacher (Northfield, Conn.) and Nick DeProspo (Worcester, Mass.) each had RBI singles in the fifth.

The Owls added to their lead with single runs in the fourth and sixth, and scored twice in the eighth. First baseman Mo Davidson (Winsted, Conn.) drove in both eighth inning runs with a single up the middle.

The River Hawks got on the board with a run in the eighth and one more in the ninth. Freshman third baseman Mark Wiggins (Rochester, N.H.) plated the eighth inning run with a single. UML’s ninth inning run scored on a wild pitch.

Peter Wolstenholme (Fall River, Mass.) took the loss in his first collegiate start for the River Hawks. The freshman allowed six runs, three earned, on nine hits in three innings on the mound. Wolstenholme struck out two.

Fellow freshman Leo Sheridan (Lowell, Mass.) pitched four innings of relief, surrendering just one run on five hits. Peter Rucinski (Bolton, Mass.) and Tim Manton (Swansea, Mass.) worked the final two innings for UML.

The River Hawks next play Friday at New Haven. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. UML is scheduled to host Southern New Hampshire for a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon. The Owls return to the field Friday at Assumption (3:30 p.m.).