UMBC

Senior Joe Fowler was 1-for-4 with a sacrifice fly on Sunday.

BALTIMORE—The UMBC baseball team dropped its opening series, 2-1, as the Retrievers (1-2) fell to Army, 23-0, on Sunday afternoon at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC. 

Junior Wink Nolan (Ellicott City, Md./Calvert Hall/Maryland) led the Retrievers in the loss, talling two of the Retrievers’ six total hits in three at-bats as well as pitching a scoreless, one hit inning in relief.

Mike Greco led the Black Knights in the outing, going 4-for-6 on the day with two home runs, a double, four runs scored, and six RBI, while Ben Koenigsfeld (1-1) earned the win for Army, giving up just four hits and striking out seven in six innings of work.

The Army bats came alive early as Joey Henshaw recorded a solo homer in the top of the first for a 1-0 lead.  They widened that lead in the second thanks to an RBI double by Greco and a two RBI double by Clint Moore to make the score 4-0 in their favor. Greco added his first two-run shot in the third for a 6-0 advantage, and a sac fly by Kevin McKague, RBI double by Greco, RBI single by Tony Capozzi, groundout RBI by Andy Ernesto, and RBI single by Moore extended the score to 11-0 after four innings.

The Black Knights added another three runs in the fifth and then saw a nine-run sixth inning, highlighted by Greco’s second two-run homer, and Simmons’ grand slam as they coasted to the 23-0 victory.

Junior Ryan Morse (Frederick, Md./Catoctin/Chesapeake JC) entered the game in relief at the beginning of the seventh inning and gave the Retrievers two scoreless innings as he gave up just three hits.

The Black Knights totaled 24 hits and one error, while the Retrievers had six hits and one error.

The Retrievers return to competition on Tuesday, March 4 when they travel to Newark, Del. to face the Blue Hens at 2:30 p.m.