Asheville, N.C.—UMBC baseball started the game with four runs in the top of the first, but the Bulldogs answered with eight straight to take the lead for good in an 11-5 win on Friday. Mitchell Carroll (Oakton, Va./Oakton) led the Retriever offense with two hits.

The Retrievers fall to 1-8 while the Bulldogs improve to 6-6.

UMBC got things going in the first, as Collin Stack (Jamestown, N.Y./Monroe CC) led off the game with a single. He would advance to second as Andrew Casali (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) reached on a fielding error. AJ Wright (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) moved Stack to third on a fly out. With the bases loaded, Jamie Switalski (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) drew a walk to bring Stack home.

Connor Hax (Bowie, Md./Bishop McNamara) would step to the plate and draw a walk to allow Casali to cross home to make it 2-0. Just a few pitches later, Switalski would score on a wild pitch to increase the lead. Zack DeThomasis (Rennsalaer, N.Y./Hudson Valley CC) gave the Retrievers a 4-0 lead with an RBI infield single.

However the Bulldogs answered back in their half of the second, scoring eight runs in the inning, aided by a pair of UMBC errors.

The Retrievers would cut into the deficit, getting a run in the fifth on a Switalski RBI ground out that scored Wright to make it 8-5.

UNC Asheville would tack on a run in fifth and a pair in the seventh, as they took an 11-5 victory on Friday afternoon.

Carroll was the lone Retriever with multiple hits, collecting two in four at bats. Switalski, Zack Bright (Fairfax Station, Va./WT Woodson), Hax, and DeThomasis all drove in runs for the Retrievers.

The Bulldogs and Retrievers will now play a double header tomorrow, Saturday March 11 starting at noon. The teams will play two nine inning games, as inclement weather is expected in the Asheville, N.C. area on Sunday.