BALTIMORE -- The UMBC Baseball team rallied from an early four-run deficit to complete the three-game sweep of NJIT with a 7-4 win, and clinch the No.2 Seed and a bye in next week's America East tournament in Binghamton.
UMBC (28-22, 15-9 AE), picked to finish last in the Conference preseason poll, finished second for the second time in three years, and finishes the season with an 18-7 record at Alumni Field.Â
After NJIT scored three in the second and one in the fourth, the Retrievers tied the game with four in the fifth.
Brooks Henderson and
Kyle Eddington led off the inning with back-to-back singles,
Jesiah Carpenter walked to load the bases, and
Dylan Melton made it 4-1 with an RBI single. After a pop up for the first out,
Danny Orr drove in Eddington with a sacrifice fly to halve mthe deficit.
Ehi Okojie worked a walk to load the bases, and
Danny Wyatt then greeted a new pitcher with a two-run double to tie the game at four.Â
The Dawgs took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth when Eddington singled with one out, stole second with two outs and then scored on a Melton single. The Retrievers picked up an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth after Orr had a leadoff single, moved to second on an Okojie walk and scored on a Wyatt single. The final run of the game came in the bottom of the eighth as Carpenter ripped a leadoff double, moved to third on a Melton groundout and scored on an
Anthony Mascuilli bunt single.Â
Brady Fox entered to pitch to start the eighth, and after hitting his first batter, retired the next six in a row, including four via strikeout, to lock down the win and his fifth save of the season.
Kailen Hackmann earned the win in relief to improve to 7-0 on the season as he went four innings, and allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts and a walk.Â
Melton led the Retrievers with three hits, while Mascuilli, Wyatt and Eddington each had two.Â
UMBC will get a bye to the double-elimination portion of the tournament and will play the highest remaining seed at 3 p.m. on Thursday. Â
