Box Score Lowell, Mass.— UMBC got their first America East Championship win, with a 9-5 victory against Maine on Thursday. The Retrievers advance to 33-18 on the year, thanks in part to 3-3 performance at the plate from Anthony Gatto (Hauppauge, N.Y./Smithtown West). UMBC will face Stony Brook tomorrow for a spot in the championship series.
Connor Hax (Bowie, Md./Bishop McNamara) got the Retrievers on the board in the second with a two-run home run to right. The two run shot was his first of the year, and gave UMBC a 2-0 lead early. The home run was the first of his career.
The very next inning, Vince Corbi (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) led off with a single, and would advance to third after an Anthony Gatto (Hauppauge, N.Y./Smithtown West) double. Corbi would score on a Justin Courtney balk to make it 3-0. The very next pitch, Andrew Casali (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) would hit into a fielder's choice to score Gatto making it 4-0 Retrievers after three innings.
Kevin Lachance (Clifton, Va./Centreville) singled home Jake Barnes (Annandale, Va./Annandale), who led off with a double to increase the lead to 5-0. Hunter Dolshun (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley) singles through the left side to score Mitchell Carroll (Oakton, Va./Oakton) to push the lead to 6-0. The inning would continue as Jamie Switalski (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) would hit into a fielder's choice, allowing Lachance to score, making it 7-0 after four.
Carroll would give UMBC their eighth run of the day on a hit and run that scores Barnes in the fifth.
Maine would get on the board after an error by the Retrievers to make it 8-1 in the sixth. The Retrievers would answer in their half, scoring on a sacrifice fly by Casali that scored Gatto.
The Retrievers scored a run in five straight innings in the middle portion of the game.
The Black Bears would score three runs in the eighth, and one in the ninth, but UMBC would hold on for a 9-5 win on Thursday.
Wozniak would go seven innings, giving up just six hits and one run in a win. He struck out four batters to give him 56 on the year.
No. 2 UMBC will face No. 1 Stony Brook for a spot in the championship series tomorrow. First pitch will be at 5:00 p.m. at LeLacheur Park.
