AUBURNDALE, Fla.—The UMBC baseball team came from behind Saturday afternoon to defeat Long Island, 13-8, for its second consecutive victory. With the win, the Retrievers improve to 3-7, while the Black Birds fell to 7-7.
Down 6-2 after five innings, junior Max Himmelstein(Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left center, to cut the deficit to two. Senior Bryan Russo (Westbury, N.Y./Clarke) followed with a double and moved to third on a junior Curtis Schickner (East Windsor, N.J./Lawrenceville Prep) single. Russo scored on a senior Rich Conlon (Vienna, Va./James Madison) single, while Schickner tied the game on a sacrifice fly by senior Casey Medairy (Elkridge, Md./Old Mill).
In the eighth, freshman pinch hitter D.J. Ream (Columbia, Pa./Hempfield) hit a single and moved to second on a Schickner bunt. Senior Dustin Ferguson (North East, Md./North East/Cecil College) ran for Ream and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Freshman D.J. Smith(Millersville, Md./Old Mill) hit a hard chopper to short with two outs, but Long Island was unable to make the play, allowing Ferguson to give the Retrievers the lead for good.
Sophomore Mike Mitchell (Fairfax, Va./Paul VI Catholic/Frederick CC) allowed five earned runs in five innings pitched, while junior reliever Sean Swetnam (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt/George Mason) gave up just one earned run in four innings to improve to 1-0 on the season.
Long Island's Chris Franzese allowed three runs (one earned) to fall to 0-2.
The Retrievers return to action Sunday when they face off with Massachusetts at 10 a.m. in Florida.
