When the UMass Lowell River Hawks came to town for a three-game series against the St. John’s Baseball team from Feb. 26-28, it was finally time for the Red Storm to make their way back onto Jack Kaiser field. In their first official game series in nearly a year, they swept the River Hawks.
Game One: Start of the Sweep
Nick Mondak took the mound for the Johnnies to start the weekend series. The lefty silenced UMass Lowell’s offense, allowing no runs through the first three innings. However, Lowell starter Collin Duffley was able to keep up, as the Johnnies weren’t able to score through three either.
Mondak prevailed through the fourth inning while Duffley started to struggle. Designated hitter David Glancy came to the plate at the bottom of the fourth and drew a walk on just four pitches, then third baseman Justin Folz quickly knocked him over to second on a single.
Glancy then found his way to third on an error by Lowell’s center-fielder. The Johnnies were finally on the board as catcher Mitchell Henshaw hit the ball into left field, allowing Glancy to cross the plate.
Mondak was back on the mound to start the fifth and sat the River Hawks down 1-2-3. Left fielder Ryan Hogan led off the bottom of the fifth for the Johnnies by being hit by a pitch, then shortstop Jake Lazzaro drew a walk to put Hogan in scoring position. Glancy tore a single into left to bring Hogan home, giving the Johnnies a 2-0 lead.
Mondak came back out for one more inning and kept the River Hawks down. He finished the game giving up no runs, two hits and one walk through six innings. Sonny Fauci relieved Mondak for the next couple of innings, holding the River Hawks to just one run. Ethan Routzhan closed the game with a 1-2-3 ninth, getting the save.
Game Two: Keeping Up the Fight
During Saturday’s matchup, Ian Murphy took the mound and owned it. Although the game started off a little shaky with Murphy dealing with runners at the corners, he worked his way out of a stressful at bat. Murphy completed the inning untouched.
After a couple silent innings, the Johnnies finally struck first – again. Shortstop Lazzaro led off the third inning with a walk, followed by designated hitter Glancy up to bat. He knocked Lazzaro over to third with a single. There were now runners on the corners with just one out. Next up was Folz. On a grounder to the right side, he was able to knock in Lazzaro from third. First baseman David Williams was up and launched a double to deep left center, knocking in Folz from first. It was now 2-0 with a Johnnies lead. Right fielder Brandon Miller came up to the plate and reached first on an infield single.This brought Williams to third before Lowell’s shortstop player threw an error, which brought him fully home.
Murphy shut down the River Hawks in the top of the fourth, and the Johnnies were hungry for more when they got up to bat. Glancy was up again, and this time with two runners on. He launched a ball over the left field fence – the ball was gone. Folz was up next, hitting the ball high and far to centerfield. The centerfielder seemed to have lost track of it because the ball hit the turf as Folz was rounding second. Folz reached home just as the ball was being thrown back into the infield, making it an inside-the-park home run.
Freshman Tyler Roche came in for Murphy in the seventh inning to make his NCAA Baseball debut. Roche proved himself as a player to keep your eye on as he only gave up one run on two hits during the inning.
Folz kept fighting as he doubled to start the eighth. Followed by two walks, the bases were fully loaded for Carlos Hidalgo’s collegiate baseball debut. He was able to knock in a run on a sacrifice fly. Paul Orbon, Lazzaro and Chris Conniff all walked, which gave the Johnnies a lead of 10-1.
Freshman Nick Guzzi relieved Roche in the eighth. Guzzi only allowed one hit and struck out two during his inning of work.
In the bottom of the eighth, transfer Nick Cirelli started his Red Storm career with a home run to right field.
Finally, Matt Semon came in to pitch and close out the matchup. This was Semon’s first time pitching to an opponent since undergoing elbow surgery, better known as “Tommy John surgery,” last winter. He only gave up two runs and sealed the win for the Johnnies.
Game Three: Finishing the Job
After a predicted forecast of rain, the UMass Lowell series finale was pushed up to an early start on Sunday morning.
Brian Hendry took the mound for the Johnnies to start the game. He got through the first inning without giving up any runs. Shortstop Lazzaro started St. John’s off by taking first on a walk. A few batters later was third baseman Folz who helped Lazzaro cross the plate on a double to deep left center. The River Hawks were quick to respond in the top of the second, but only evened the score, making it 1-1.
The Johnnies weren’t able to respond immediately, but seemed ready to stage a comeback in the fourth. The bases were loaded with just one out. Unfortunately, Lowell’s starting pitcher, Joshua Becker, was able to work his way out of this inning with no earned runs by the Johnnies.
Geoff Mosseau relieved Hendry in the top of the fifth and helped the Johnnies escape a jam. It was the Red Storm’s time to break the tie. Second baseman Carson Bartels was up to bat with just one out. He was able to make it to third on a ball hit well to right center, putting himself in scoring position. The Johnnies didn’t need much to knock Bartels in, but Glancy was back again. He knocked the ball over the left field fence for his second home run of the series. The Johnnies now had the 3-1 lead.
The Johnnies found themselves in a bases loaded jam in the top of the sixth, but Mosseau again held the River Hawks scoreless.
Joe Joe Rodriguez came in for relief in the seventh and eighth innings and allowed one hit and no runs. Again, Routzhan threw the final pitch for the Johnnies as they secured the River Hawk sweep.
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The UMass Lowell sweep hit off the Men’s Baseball season on the right foot. The energy brought to this series will hopefully be brought into their entire season. The Red Storm will be back in action on Friday March 5, when they face off Sacred Heart University back home at Jack Kaiser Stadium.
