Baltimore, Md.— UMBC baseball split with Hartford on Saturday, earning a top four seed in the upcoming America East Tournament. The Retrievers won game one 7-6 in extra innings, before falling in game two, 6-4. UMBC will conclude the regular season tomorrow, looking for a pair of losses by Stony Brook to clinch a three seed.

Game One:

UMBC and Hartford both came out swinging in the opener, with UMBC breaking through first. Anthony Gatto (Hauppauge, N.Y./Smithtown West) returned from injury to go 4-4, blasting a home run to left field in the bottom of the fourth to start off the game.

Hartford would have the answer in the second, getting an RBI double after a Retriever error to tie it up 1-1. Hunter Dolshun (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley) however had an answer with a big home run, his 11^th of the year, scoring Gatto to give UMBC a 2-1 lead.

After the Hawks took the lead with a pair in the fourth, the Retrievers tied things with an RBI single by Gatto. But as was the story of the game, Hartford found themselves with the lead after the next half inning.

Both sides wound up tied after nine innings, forcing extras at Alumni Field. The Hawks took the lead in the top of the tenth, setting up the Retrievers in the bottom of the stanza. In the frame, Mitchell Carroll singled home Nick Naumann who led off with a hit by pitch. Kevin Lachance (Clifton, Va./Centreville) provided the heroics with a single to short, scoring Tim Kelly (Hampton, Va./York/Virginia Tech) to give UMBC a big 7-6 win.

Gatto and Lachance each had four hits, as Dolshun blasted his team leading 11^th home run of the year.

Game Two:

The Hawks found the bats early in the second game of the double header, scoring a run in the top of the first, before adding another two runs in the third to take a 3-0 lead.

UMBC found the sticks in the fifth, getting two runs back off a Raven Beeman (Somerset, Pa./Somerset) RBI single to left scoring Naumann and AJ Wright (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West).

Jamie Switalski (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) knotted the game at 3-3 after his RBI ground out scored Gatto. Wright stepped up and gave the Retrievers the lead on a big one out double to deep center to make it 4-3 UMBC.

However the Hawks had the final say, putting up three runs in the seventh to take the game, 6-4.

Dolshun and Wright each had a pair of hits in the loss, as UMBC falls to 27-21, 12-10 AE on the year.

Game three of the series will be played tomorrow at noon, with senior day festivities commencing pregame.