Orono, Maine – Freshman pitcher Jayden Shertel threw a team season-high 8.1 innings as UMBC stayed alive with a 4-3 victory over Hartford in an elimination game at the 2022 America East Baseball Championships.

Shertel allowed two second inning runs, then shut down the Hawks for the next six innings as the Retrievers built a 4-2 lead. After retiring the first batter in the top of the ninth, he walked two batters on 3-2 counts and was replaced by senior Keegan Leffler. Leffler gave up a two-out RBI single, but fanned the final Hawk hitter to earn his third save of the season.  

Trailing 2-1, UMBC equaled UH's second inning and scored two runs in the second inning and added one more in the third inning.

Senior Ian Diaz led off UMBC's bottom of the first inning with his fourth home run of the season. Christian Easley was the lone Retriever to produce a pair of hits and he scored once and drove in a run.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Easley led off the second with a first-pitch single and came around to score as Matt Ryan hit the next pitch into right center for a double. Ryan went to third on Drew Roberts fly out to right field and scored the go ahead run on an RBI ground out by Connor Kelly.
• With two outs in the third inning, Easley again ripped the first pitch of the at-bat for a double to center field, scoring Justin Taylor and giving UMBC a 4-2 lead.
• Shertel retired 19 of 23 batters in innings 3-8, allowing three hits and one walk in that span.

The Retrievers will play the loser of the 11 a.m. between No. 1 Maine and No. 4 UMass Lowell not before 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.