UMBC

BALTIMORE—The UMBC baseball team dropped both sides of a doubleheader and fell to 1-2 in conference play as it lost, 17-4 in game one and 4-2 in game two against Vermont on Saturday at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC.  The Retrievers (8-15, 1-2 America East) and the Catamounts (7-10, 2-1 America East) will conclude the season series on Friday, when UMBC will look for its first conference series split since tying 2-2 with Albany in 2006.

Senior Will Delawter (0-3) (Frederick, Md./Catoctin/Chesapeake JC) led the Retrievers in game one from behind the plate, going 3-for-4 with one run scored, two RBI, and a double, but was already slated with the loss after giving up 11 runs on nine hits in 1.1 innings pitched.  Senior Mike Fitzpatrick (Springfield, Pa./Haverford) pitched 4.2 innings in relief while giving up just three runs, one earned, on four hits and striking out two.

Junior Wink Nolan (Ellicott City, Md./Calvert Hall/Maryland) led the Retrievers in game two, going 2-for-3 with one run scored, one batted in, and two doubles, while Ed Bach (2-3) suffered the loss after letting in four runs on five hits, while fanning four in 6.2 innings of work.

Matt Duffy led the Catamounts in game one, going 3-for-6 with three runs scored, two RBI, two doubles and a triple, while Miguel Magrass was tops in game two with one hit in two at-bats, one run scored, two RBI and a double.

Joe Serafin (3-1) and Eric Thompson (2-1) picked up the wins for Vermont as Serafin went 5.0 innings and gave up four runs on seven hits while striking out four and Thompson struck out seven and gave up two runs on five hits while going the distance for the Catamounts.

Vermont got off to a quick start in game one as they tallied three runs in the first and eight in the second thanks in part to a home run by Magrass and a grand slam by Kyle Massie.

The Retrievers also got in the board on the second off a sacrifice fly by senior Steve Russo (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley), but Vermont added another run in the fourth and two in the fifth to take a 14-1 lead going into the bottom of the inning.

Three Retriever hits in the inning amounted to three runs as senior Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s batted one in with a single down the third-base line and Delawter brought in two runs with a single to left center.

The Catamounts weren’t done yet, however, as they added three runs in the seventh on a three-run homer by Corey Moylan, the fourth player to tally a home run in the game on the way to the eventual 17-4 win.

Game two saw the Retrievers take a 1-0 lead in the first off a Catamount wild pitch and neither team saw another run scored for the next two innings.

The Catamounts took control in the fourth, however, with a three-run inning, but the Retrievers came within one after Nolan added an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 3-2 in favor of Vermont.

The visitors would add one more run in the fifth as they edged the Retrievers, 4-2 and took a 2-1 advantage in the series.

The Retrievers and Catamounts will meet in the four-game series finale on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC.