Union, N.J.-- UMBC baseball battled all day, but concluded the 2021 season with a pair of losses to NJIT, 13-6 and 8-1 on Saturday afternoon. The Retrievers held a lead in both games, but late surges propelled the Highlanders.

UMBC ends the season at 17-26, 12-26 AE while NJIT will head into the America East Tournament at 24-22, 23-17 AE. 

Game One: 

The Retrievers got on the board early with a run in their half of the first. With the bases loaded, Michael Cilio (Chester, N.J.) drew a walk to score Christian Easley (Collinsville, Va.) and give UMBC an early lead. The Highlanders would respond with a run in their half of the first to tie it. 

Luke Belanger (Alexandria, Va.) would give the Retrievers the lead back in the second on an RBI single. He was followed by a sacrifice fly from Ian Diaz (Philadelphia, Pa.) to give UMBC a 3-1 lead. However, NJIT would once again answer with two runs to tie it at 3-3. Jack Ryan (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) would hit a sacrifice fly in the third, but the Highlanders would take their first lead in the third with a two-run home run. 

But as was the case for most of the game, UMBC would have a response. Diaz drove in Easley with a double and Nolan Charlton (Atlantic City, N.J.) tripled home Diaz to give UMBC a 6-5 lead. However, that would be all the Retrievers would get. 

NJIT put up eight runs in the sixth to race in front 13-6, holding off the Retrievers for a 13-6 win in game one. 

Belanger and Easley each had two hits with Diaz driving in two runs in the loss.

Game Two:

UMBC got things started in the second inning. Adam Schwartz (Akron, Pa.) led off with a walk. He would later advance to third on a Christian Torres (Miami, Fla.) double and scored after Drew Roberts (Matthews, N.C.) reached on an error. 

Joe Pucek (Morristown, N.J.) had a strong outing for the Retrievers, holding the Highlanders to just a couple of hits through six innings. However NJIT finally got to him in the seventh with a run to tie it.

NJIT would continue that momentum with seven runs in the eighth to take a 8-1 lead. The Retrievers would get a runner on in the ninth, but nothing would come of it in an 8-1 loss in game two.

Roberts drove in the only run with five different Retrievers recording hits.