UMBC

Junior Scott Peddicord led the Retrievers, going 3-for-5 on Senior Day.

BALTIMORE—The UMBC baseball mounted a furious comeback but couldn’t overcome some early miscues as it fell, 12-9, to Albany on Senior Day at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC.  The Great Danes (12-33-1, 7-12 America East) halted the Retrievers (18-24, 10-9 America East) five-game winning streak as they built an 8-0 lead and never gave up the lead for the rest of the game.

Junior Scott Peddicord (Columbia, Md./Long Reach) led the Retrievers on Senior Day, going 3-for-5 with one run scored, one RBI, and a double, while senior Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) tallied his eighth home run of the season.  Redshirt freshman David Divita (3-5) (Mayfield Village, Ohio/Mayfield) was tabbed with the loss after giving up nine runs, three earned, on nine hits in four innings of work.

Senior Mike Fitzpatrick (Springfield, Pa./Haverford) also saw action on the mound on Senior Day, pitching two hitless innings in relief and giving up one unearned run while striking out one batter.

Ryan Gugel led the Great Danes, going 3-for-5 with one run scored, three RBI, a home run and a double, while Dave Kubiak (3-0) remained perfect on the season, allowing seven runs, three earned, on six hits and fanning three batters in 5.2 innings.  Sean Gregory earned his second save of the season after pitching 3.1 innings in relief and striking out four batters while allowing just two runs on five hits.

The Great Danes wasted no time as they added two runs in the first inning on three hits, but a combined four Retriever errors in the second and third allowed them to score six more times as they built an 8-0 lead.

The Retrievers finally got onto the board in the bottom of the third thanks to an Albany error that allowed senior Mark Lemon (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) to reach base and eventually score on a double play groundout by Fowler.

The Great Danes brought their lead back up to eight with a single run in the fourth, but after Fitzpatrick held them scoreless in the fifth, the Retrievers added two runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to Fowler’s two-run shot to left center and would cut the Albany lead to two after a four-run inning in the sixth.

After a leadoff out, the next two Retriever batters reached base after being hit by pitch and a two-out single from Peddicord loaded the bases for Fowler.  A wild pitch during the at-bat allowed senior Steve Russo (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) to score and then a walk by Fowler loaded the bases once again.

Fowler would have been caught off the bag for the final out during senior Will Delawter’s (Frederick, Md./Catoctin/Chesapeake JC) at bat, but an error by the first baseman allowed one run to score and runners to advance to second and third and Delawter loaded the bases for the third time with a walk. 

After a pitching change, junior Shawn Retz (Baltimore, Md./Western Tech/Catonsville C.C.) blasted a single to left to score two runs as the Retrievers cut the lead to two, 9-7.

Both teams tallied two runs in the seventh, the Retrievers off a groundout RBI by Lemon and RBI single by Peddicord, but the Great Danes added one more in the eighth while shutting down the Retrievers on the way to the 12-9 victory.

The game saw a total of seven errors, five from the Retrievers, and six hit batters, including Retz who was touched twice.

Prior to the game, the Retrievers honored their 11 seniors in Fowler, Peddicord, Delawter, Lemon, Russo, Fitzpatrick, Sean Rae, Brian Duffy, Jon Hart, Steve Evans, and Anthony Socarrras who are playing in their final home series this weekend.

The Retrievers and Great Danes continue their four-game series with the finale on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC, where the Retrievers will look to win their second straight conference series.