Lowell, Mass. -- Six pitchers combined to strike out 21 batters and allow just five earned runs over 17 innings as the UMBC Baseball team swept a doubleheader at host UMass Lowell on Friday night.

In game one, the Retrievers were down to their final two outs and down three, but rallied for a 5-4 victory in eight innings. A seven-run fifth inning in game two allowed the Dawgs to cruise to an 8-2 victory to pick up the sweep in the nightcap.

In the first game, the River Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the second, but UMBC responded in the top of the third with a sacrifice fly from Leewood Molessa that scored Jesiah Carpenter. UML would re-take the lead with one in the bottom of the third and two in the fourth, and it would remain that way until the seventh.

Derek Paris singled to leadoff the inning and then Danny Wyatt and Nolan Kutney worked back-to-back walks to load the bases. After a pop out, Carpenter smacked a two-run single up the middle to plate Paris and Wyatt and cut the deficit to 4-3. Anthony Mascuilli would then hit a sacrifice fly to score pinch runner Luke Buscaglia and tie the game.

After a scoreless bottom of the seventh, the game went to extras and Paris reached when he was hit by a pitch with one out. Paris would eventually come all the way around to score on a wild pitch and UMBC would hold on for the win. 

Nick Remy retired all six batters he faced to pick up the victory out of the bullpen, while Paris and Carpenter each had two-hit games for the Retrievers. Danny Orr added a hit of his own and Carpenter stole a pair of bases.

The second game was scoreless until the fifth inning when UMBC exploded for seven runs. Carpenter, Mascuilli, Molessa and Orr hit four straight singles to put the Retrievers up 1-0. After Mascuilli scored on a wild pitch, a Wyatt single made it five straight hits and extended the lead to 3-0. Orr would score on a wild pitch and Sergio Droz and Carpenter each walked with the bases loaded to make it 6-0 before another wild pitch scored Droz to make it 7-0.

The River Hawks plated a pair in the bottom half of the inning, and Ayden Gonzalez entered with the bases loaded and one out and struck out the next two batters to escape the jam. Orr would steal home on a double steal in the sixth to finish the scoring for the contest. 

Brady Fox worked the final 3.1 innings to pick up his first career save, striking out four and allowing just one hit and one walk. Eddie Sargent got the start and struck out eight in 4.1 innings of work.

Orr went 3-for-5 and stole a base in the contest, while Droz went 2-for-4. 

With expected rain on Saturday, the final game of the series will be played at noon on Sunday.