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News Release

UMBC Baseball Wins Second Straight Series with 15-8 Win over Albany

5/4/2008

Junior Joe Fowler tallied his ninth home run of the year with a grand slam on Sunday.

BALTIMORE—The UMBC baseball team defeated Albany, 15-8, on Sunday at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC, in the series finale, giving UMBC its second straight series win.  The Retrievers (19-24, 11-9 America East) went back and forth with the Great Danes (12-34-1, 7-13 America East) for the first five innings, which saw three lead changes, but they sealed the victory after scoring nine unanswered runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

Senior Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) led the way for the Retrievers, going 3-for-4 with a double and a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth.  The entire UMBC lineup had at least one hit and eight of the nine had two hits, with Fowler, junior Wink Nolan (Ellicott City, Md./Calvert Hall/Maryland) and senior Steve Russo (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) each tallying three hits.   Redshirt freshman Austin Drewyer (2-2) (Ellicott City, Md./River Hill) earned the win after pitching 3.1 innings in relief and giving up just two runs on four hits while fanning four batters. 

Mike Konstanty continued an exceptional weekend for the Great Danes, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a double, and his fourth home run of the series.  Nate Novak (0-7) was tabbed with the loss after giving up eight runs on 11 hits in five innings of work.

The Retrievers struck first with three runs in the bottom of the first with an RBI double by senior Will Delawter (Frederick, Md./Catoctin/Chesapeake JC) and a two-RBI single by junior Shawn Retz (Baltimore, Md./Western Tech/Catonsville C.C.), but the Great Danes would cut that lead to one with two runs in the second and add two more in the third to take the 4-3 lead after holding the Retrievers hitless and scoreless in the second.

The Retrievers took back the lead, however, with a pair of runs off a groundout RBI from junior Brad Brainer (Chester, Md./Kent Island/Chesapeake JC) and a wild pitch that allowed Russo to cross home plate in the fourth only to have Albany reclaim a one-run lead in the fifth thanks to Konstanty’s two-run shot to left center to make the score 6-5.

It would be the last Great Dane lead for the remained of the game, as Fowler sealed the victory for UMBC with a one-out grand slam as the Retrievers took a 9-6 advantage. 

The Retrievers added another handful of runs in the seventh off a sacrifice fly by Russo, RBI single by freshman Rich Conlon (Vienna, Va./James Madison), RBI doubles by junior Scott Peddicord (Columbia, Md./Long Reach) and Fowler, and an RBI single by Delawter as they took a 14-6 advantage.

Albany would score one run in the eighth and ninth innings, but couldn’t outscore the Retrievers, who added their final tally in the eighth on RBI double by Conlon and earned the 15-8 victory and 3-1 series win.

The Retrievers return to competition when they host Delaware on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC.