Towson, Md. -- The UMBC Baseball team exploded for a season-best 12 runs on 13 hits, while freshman
Logan Wiley picked up his first win on the mound as the Retrievers defeated host Towson, 12-4, on Tuesday afternoon.
Anthony Swenda went 3-for-4 with three RBI, three runs scored and a walk, while
Justin Taylor also went 3-for-4, with an RBI, four runs scored and two walks.
Wiley turned in a quality start, going 6.2 innings, striking out a pair and allowing just three earned runs.
Sam Daniels [itched the final 2.1 innings to pick up his first career save.
How it Happened:
- UMBC jumped ahead quickly when Taylor and Swenda drew back-to-back walks with one out in the first, and then Taylor would score on a Matt Ryan RBI single.
- The Retrievers loaded the bases with two outs and Nick Pratt delivered a two-run single to make it 3-0 after the top half of the first
- In the second, Derek Paris was hit by a pitch with one out and Taylor laid down a perfect bunt single to put two on for Swenda, who promptly drove home Paris with a single
- Luke Trythall would add an RBI single with two outs, before Pratt worked a bases loaded walk to make it 6-0 in the second
- It remained 6-0 until Towson scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Wiley limited the damage to keep UMBC up 6-3
- The Retrievers quickly responded with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth on an RBI single from Taylor and a bases loaded hit-by-pitch to Trythall to push the lead to 8-3
- The Tigers cut the lead in half in the bottom of the seventh, but Daniels came in with two on and two outs and escaped the jam.
- UMBC would get the run back when Taylor smacked a leadoff double in the eighth and came around to score on a Matthew Best two-out single.
- After Daniels retired Towson on five pitches in the bottom half of the eighth, the Retrievers added three more runs in the top of the ninth
- Swenda drove in both Taylor and Dawson Baracani on a double, and then Best walked with the bases loaded to make it 12-4
- Daniels worked a scoreless ninth to pick up the save
Ryan and Trythall each had a pair of hits for UMBC, while Baracani, Best and Pratt each had singles.
The Retrievers will host Yale for a three game series this weekend at Alumni Field. Saturday will feature a doubleheader (two nine innings) that begins at 3 p.m., followed buy the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m.
