LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell baseball team (15-20, 7-8 AE) fell to the Rhode Island Rams (11-25, 6-3 NEC) 10-5 at LeLacheur Park on Wednesday afternoon.
 
"It's tough to recover from a seven-run inning. It was a hard game, they've got a good club and they threw some good arms at us," said head coach Ken Harring. "I thought [the bullpen] was good today and hopefully that will push them into the weekend."
 
Freshman Jacob Humphrey (Standish, ME.) and senior Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) each tallied two hits and scored one run. Junior Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) had two hits and a stolen base. Freshman Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.) led the team with two RBIs on the afternoon.
 
On the mound, graduate student Zach Rodgers (Parrish, Fla.) fell to 0-1 on the season. Rodgers threw 3.0 innings, struck out three, and allowed eight earned runs. Junior Frankie Venezia (Lyndhurst, N.J.) made his season debut after a long recovery in the offseason, coming in for the sixth inning. The junior threw 1.0 inning in his return to the mound.
 
The Rams' bats got going early after two hits on the first two pitches of the game. A ground out brought in the first run of the game, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. Zach Rodgers threw a 1-2-3 second inning with two strikeouts to keep the River Hawks down one.
 
Rhode Island added to the lead in the third with a three-run home run followed by a two-out solo shot to put the Rams ahead 5-0. The visitors added three more runs to complete the seven-run inning and took an 8-0 lead. UMass Lowell got on the board in the bottom of the third after a sacrifice fly from sophomore Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) brought in fellow sophomore Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.). Gerry Siracusa doubled to left to bring in Jacob Humphrey, cutting the deficit to six runs. A two-run double from Brandon Fish brought the River Hawks within four after three innings.
 
Sophomore Zach Fortuna (Newburyport, Mass.) entered the game in the fourth inning to replace Rodgers. The Rams added another run with a two-out RBI single, pushing the lead to 9-5. After a sacrifice fly brought in another run, senior Matt Draper (Lowell, Mass.) came in relief of Fortuna with two one and two out. The senior got out the inning with a strikeout, but another run scored. The River Hawks ended the sixth with a 6-4-3 double play to keep the Rhode Island lead at 10-4 but could not chip away at the lead in the bottom half of the inning.
 
Graduate student Henry Funaro (Lowell, Mass.) took the mound in the seventh inning and struck out two to end the frame. Sophomore Michael Quigley (Halifax, Mass.) replaced Funaro in the eighth and escaped the inning with no earned runs and one strikeout. Senior Sal Fusco (Colonie, N.Y.) threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning, giving UMass Lowell one more chance to make a comeback.
 
The River Hawks added one in the ninth on an infield single from Humphrey that scored senior Robert Gallagher (Mullica Hill, N.J.), cutting the lead to 10-5. UMass Lowell could not add to the scoring and fell to the Rams.
 
UMass Lowell will head to Orono to take on the Maine Black Bears for a weekend series. "They haven't lost a series yet and they're playing well," Harring said about Maine. "Their lineup is solid and they're hard to beat up there, so we know what the challenge is ahead of us. The last few weekends have been good for us and we're confident with our lineup."
 
Game one of the series is set for Friday, April 22 at 4 p.m. at Mahaney Diamond.