March 15, 2010

Box Score

UMass Lowell baseball (8-4) ran its win streak to five on its annual Florida trip with a victory over the defending National Champion Lynn University on Monday. The River Hawk offense made music to the tune of a 29-3 score against the Fighting Knights.

"It was our day today," said head coach Ken Harring. "We've been on the other end of these kinds of games; you only have to look back to last weekend."

"We are certainly happy with our performance and hopefully we can build off of it. Baseball is a day-to-day kind of game and we have a tough double-header against Dowling College tomorrow."

For Lynn, the loss served as the worst in program history. The Fighting Knights surrendered the most runs and worst run differential (-26) in school history.

The River Hawks escaped an early jam after Matt Monico (Tewksbury, MA) surrendered a pair of walks and a hit to load the bases with no outs. Monico rallied to strikeout the next batter before getting Patrick Roedel (West Palm Beach, FL) to ground into a double play to keep the scoreboard unblemished.

UMass Lowell broke through on the scoreboard in the third inning after a Jared Notargiacomo (Newburyport, MA) single and Cam Kneeland (Rowley, MA) walk to set the table with one out. JT Leary (Newburyport, MA) homered over the right field fence, his third of the season, to put the River Hawks up 3-0.

The floodgates opened in the fourth inning to the tune of seven runs, highlighted by an RBI double by Sean Burns (Colchester, VT). The River Hawks exploded again in the sixth inning for nine more runs. With bases loaded and no outs, Notargiacomo hit a grand slam followed by a two RBI single from Burns.

Notargiacomo hit another grand slam during an eight-run seventh inning. He finished the day five-for-eight with eight RBI, four runs scored and a program record two grand slams. UMass Lowell made it back-to-back bombs as Kneeland connected on a solo shot during the very next at bat.

Senior Luke Wallace (Yorktown Heights, NY) quietly put together a fantastic day at the plate as the River Hawks' leadoff man, going seven-for-eight with fours runs scored and an RBI. Wallace's seven hits set a new program record, topping the previous high of six held by Allan Mottram (2000) and Jim Michaud (1980). Kneeland also provided firepower, batting four-for-seven with five runs scored and an RBI.

Monico earned his first victory of the year after completing six innings of one run ball. The senior righty struck out three while allowing seven hits.

Mike Sloban (Merrimac, MA) relieved Monico at the start of the seventh and pitched two innings with one strikeout and two runs allowed. Taylor Robinson (Haverhill, MA) tossed a perfect ninth inning, facing just three batters with one strikeout.

The River Hawks have four games remaining on their Florida trip, starting with a double-header against Dowling College tomorrow at 11 a.m. UMass Lowell will host its home opener this weekend as they welcome Southern Connecticut State on Saturday for a double-header starting at noon.