West Hartford, Conn. -- The UMBC Baseball team scored seven runs in the final two innings to rally past host Hartford and complete the three-game sweep with an 8-3 win on Sunday afternoon.
UMBC (11-12, 4-2 AE) got three hits in the first, but would not get another hit until the eighth inning when they exploded for five runs to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 lead.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Ian Diaz (Philadelphia, Pa.), Tony Krueger (Appleton, Wisc.) and Luke Johnson (Lewes, Del.) had three straight two-out singles in the first to put UMBC up 1-0
- Hartford (1-15, 1-5 AE) would tie the game on a two-out error in the second and then take the lead via a pair of infield singles, a bunt and a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
- Reid Celata (Virginia Beach, Va.) came on in relief of Keegan Leffler (Wilton, N.Y.) to start the fifth and loaded the bases with one out, but got a double play to escape the threat
- UMBC got the tying run to second with no outs in both the fifth and the seventh, but could not cash in.
- Hartford loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh and added a run on wild pitch on a strikeout to make it 3-1.
- Drew Roberts (Matthews, N.C.) and Christian Easley (Collinsville, Va.) had back-to-back hits with one out in the eighth, and Roberts would then score on an error to make it 3-2.
- A few batters later, Krueger walked with the bases loaded to tie it up.
- Johnson then ripped a bases-clearing double to the gap in right-center to put UMBC up 6-3.
- Easley added a two-run homer in the ninth to push the lead to 8-3.
- Evan Selmer (Beltsville, Md.) improved to 2-1 on the season after pitching the final four innings, striking out six and allowing just one run.
UMBC returns home to host Navy on Tuesday at 3 p.m. and then will welcome Maine to Alumni field for a three game America East series beginning on Friday.
