VESTAL, N.Y. -
Dylan Melton tied an America East Tournament record with five hits and
Zach Robinson pitched a complete-game shutout as the No.2 seeded UMBC Baseball team defeated No.5 seed UMass Lowell, 9-0, on Thursday night in an elimination game in the America East Tournament. The Retrievers advance to face the loser of No.1 Binghamton-No. 3 Maine tomorrow at 5 p.m.
UMBC (29-23) pounded out 20 hits in the contest, led by Melton going 5-for-5 with a stolen base and an RBI, and America East Player of the Year
Ehi Okojie's going 4-for-5 with and RBI.
Danny Wyatt went 3-for-5 with two RBI and both
Danny Orr and
Jesiah Carpenter each went 2-for-5.
The Dawgs got the scoring started early as they plated two in the bottom of the first. Melton had a leadoff bunt single and went to third on an Okojie two-out single. Wyatt and
Derek Paris then followed with back-to-back RBI singles. UMBC added a run in the second when Carpenter singled with one out, moved to third on a Melton single and scored on an
Anthony Mascuilli ground out.
The Retrievers blew the game open with five runs in the bottom of the fourth when
Brooks Henderson and Carpenter hit the first two pitches of the inning for back-to-back singles. Melton then drove in Henderson with an RBI single, and another run scored when Mascuilli legged out an infield single and the throw got away. Orr greeted a new pitcher with an RBI single, Okojie drove in another with an RBI fielder's choice, and then scored from first on a Wyatt double that made it 8-0.
It remained 8-0 until the bottom of the eighth when Okojie, Wyatt and pinch-hitter
Nolan Kutney all singled to load the bases and pinch-runner
Luke Buscaglia scored on a Henderson sacrifice fly.
Robinson was brilliant on the mound, needing only 103 pitches for the shutout as he allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out three in 9.0 innings.
