BALTIMORE-- UMBC baseball suffered two losses to NJIT on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field. The Highlanders jumped on the Retrievers early in game one before completing a comeback in game two in extra innings. 

UMBC falls to 14-16, 9-16 AE on the year while NJIT improves to 13-19, 12-14 AE on the year. 

Game One:

NJIT jumped on the Retrievers early with three runs in the first, two in second, and two in the third to take a 7-0 lead early. UMBC would get on the board in their half of the third. Ethan Wentzlaff (Damascus, Md./Damascus) smacked a one-out triple that set up Jack Ryan (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) for an RBI groundout to make it 7-1.

The Retrievers added another the next inning with Ian Diaz (Philadelphia, Pa.) drilling a solo home run to left to cut the deficit to 7-2. However, that would be as close as the Retrievers would get with the Highlanders adding two in the fifth and eight in the sixth to make it 17-2. UMBC would get a pair in the sixth on a Matt Clarke (Wilkes Barre, Pa.) two-RBI double that scored Luke Trythall (Poolesville, Md./Poolesville) and Peter Godrick (Millersville, Md./Archbishop Spalding), cutting the final score to 17-4. 

UMBC mustered just four hits with Diaz, Christian Torres (Miami, Fla.), Wentzlaff, and Clarke getting a hit. 

Game Two:

Game two started differently with UMBC starter Owen Hamilton (San Anselmo, Calif.) holding the Highlanders at bay early. UMBC got on the board first with a run in the second. Drew Roberts (Matthews, N.C.) singled home Clarke who reached on an error. 

After NJIT took a 2-1 lead the next half inning, Clarke tied it back up with an RBI single that plated Nolan Charlton (Atlantic City, N.J.). The Retrievers would retake the lead in the fourth with Roberts scoring on a wild pitch and Clarke singling in Diaz and Torres to give UMBC a 5-2 lead. 

The Highlanders got two back in the fifth to make it 5-4, but Ian Diaz smashed his second home run of the day, this time a two-run shot, to extend the lead to 7-4. 

NJIT would not go away as they tied it in the ninth on a three-run home run to force extra. They would then get three more in the 10th to take game two 10-7.

Clarke drove in three runs on a 3-4 performance from the plate. Diaz drove in a pair on two hits. 

UMBC and NJIT conclude their series tomorrow, Sunday, May 2 at 1 p.m.