UMBC

Senior Joe Fowler was 2-for-4 with one run scored against Army on Friday.

BALTIMORE—The UMBC baseball team dropped a heartbreaker in their season-opener as they fell, 4-3 to Army at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC on Friday afternoon.

The Black Knights (1-4) earned their first win of the season while the Retrievers dropped their first game of the season for the seventh straight year.

Senior Will Delawter (Frederick, Md./Catoctin/Chesapeake JC) picked up where he left off in 2007 as he led the Retrievers, going 2-for-4 on the day with one double, and one run batted in.  Delawter also closed out the game for the Retrievers on the mound, pitching one scoreless and hitless inning in relief.

Andy Ernesto led Army on the day, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored, and one batted in, while Drew Clothier led the Black Knights on the mound, going seven innings and giving up three runs (two earned) on eight hits, while striking out six.

The Black Knights started the scoring off in the top of the third thanks to a walk and hit by pitch by junior starter Dan Blewett (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air).  Kyle Stramara scored on a stolen base by fellow teammate Clint Moore to give Army a 1-0 lead.

The Retrievers didn’t take long, however, as they evened the score in the bottom of the fourth after senior Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) doubled and then advanced on a balk by Clothier.  Delawter then added a double of his own to bring Fowler home and knot the score at one apiece.

Then in the fifth, junior Tom Meaney (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem) reached base on a Black Knight error and was batted in by senior Mark Lemon’s (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) single down the first base line.  Junior Wink Nolan (Ellicott City, Md./Calvert Hall/Maryland), who went 2-for-4 on the day, brought Lemon in to score with a single up the middle to give the Retrievers a 3-1 advantage.

It was the last the Retrievers would score, however, as Army added one run in the top of the sixth and two in the eighth as they edged the Retrievers, 4-3.

The Retrievers outhit the Black Knights 9-7, while both teams committed just one error apiece.

The teams will meet for the second game of the three-game series on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC.