Umass Lowell collects win over NJIT on road
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. >> Freshman Alfred Mucciarone (Franklin) shined on the mound as the Umass Lowell baseball team ended the weekend with a 7-3 win over the NJIT Highlanders on Sunday afternoon.
“Mucciarone led the way and was fantastic today,” said UML head coach Nick Barese. “He was so competitive all day and commanded all three of his pitches. Offensively, we put the pressure on them all day and eventually broke through in a big inning.”
Mucciarone went 6.1 innings and struck out seven to improve to 1-1 on the season for UML (915, 2-3 AE). Sophomore Michael Simes (Rutland, Mass.) and senior Andres
Hulfachor (Nashua, N.H.) each struck out one in 0.2 innings while senior Zach Fortuna (Newburyport) struck out two in a scoreless ninth frame.
Sophomore Carlos Martinez (Coamo, Puerto Rico) went 3-4 with three RBIS, one run and one walk. Junior Conor Kelly (Hopkinton) and senior Roddy Hernandez (Jersey City, N.J.) each tallied two hits while junior Alex Luccini (Hopedale) scored two runs and drew two walks.
Both sides went down in order in the first inning as Mucciarone tallied his first strikeout of the day to send the game to the second. The freshman struck out two more hitters in the second in another quick frame.
Conor Kelly and freshman Scott Donahue (Medfield) tallied hits while Alex Luccini drew a walk to load the bases with no one out in the top of the fourth. Carlos Martinez doubled down the first base line to score two runs and give Umass Lowell the lead. Donahue scored a wild pitch and Martinez came in to score on a fielder’s choice as the River Hawks opened a 4-0 lead.
Senior Trey Brown’s (Rochester, N.Y.) RBI single scored senior Brandon Fish (Londonderry, N.H.) to make it a 5-0 game. Kelly followed with an RBI single to cap off the frame as the River Hawks scored six runs on five hits in the fourth inning. Martinez tallied his third RBI of the afternoon in the fifth inning with a single to right to score Luccini, pushing the lead to seven.