Box Score BALTIMORE – UMBC scored four first inning runs and young pitchers
Luke Johnson (Lewes, Del.) and
Evan Selmer (Beltsville, Md.) held powerful St. Joseph's to four runs as the Retrievers defeated the Hawks, 5-4, in the home opener.
The win was the Retrievers' first of the season and the team is now 1-3, with all four games decided by a single run.
St. Joseph's (2-2) came into the game averaging 13.0 runs per outing.
Johnson, a sophomore, started and allowed three runs in four innings, striking out seven and stranding five Hawks. Making his collegiate debut, Selmer pitched the final five innings, and allowed just one run in the top of the eighth. He fanned three, walked three and allowed three hits.
Senior left fielder
Christian Easley (Colleysville, Va.) drove in two runs with a first-inning run scoring double and added two singles. Graduate student second baseball
Myles Nicholson (Hagerstown, Md.) also collected three hits, including a triple, and scored twice.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Nicholson singled and stole second to lead off the bottom of the first for UMBC. He would score on a one-out Hawk infield error. With the bases loaded, Easley doubled down the left field line to score a pair and junior catcher Tony Krueger's (Appleton, Wisc.) RBI ground-out plated the fourth run.
- The Hawks struck back with two runs in the second and one in the third.
- Nicholson led off the UMBC fourth with a triple to right field and came home on Jayden Shertel's (Mays Landing, N.J.) sacrifice fly to left field.
- St. Joseph's scored a run in the top of the eighth, but Selmer stranded a pair of Hawks, closing the frame with a line-out to center field.
- UMBC loaded the bases with one out in their half of the eighth, but Easley was thrown out at the plate on a foul pop down the right field line.
- After walking the lead-off hitter in the ninth, Selmer got a fly out, a strikeout and a comebacker to close the game and earn his first collegiate victory.
Nicholson is 9-for-17 and has scored six runs in his first four games in the black and gold.
The two teams play a pair of games on Sunday, beginning at noon.
