UMBC

Senior Brad Brainer hit his ninth double of the season Saturday.

ALBANY, N.Y.--The UMBC baseball opened its 2009 America East conference play with two losses to Albany, 15-4 and 10-9 at Varsity Field in Albany, N.Y. With the losses, the Retrievers dropped to 4-16 overall and 0-2 in conference play, while the Great Danes improved to 7-15 overall and 2-0 in America East play.

In the second game, the Retrievers had a 9-5 lead after five innings, but Albany scored one run in the sixth, three in the seventh to tie and one in the eighth to take the lead, 10-9. Sean Donovan had a two-run double in the seventh, before driving in the winning run off sophomore Travis Pearson (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) (0-2) in the eighth.

Seven UMBC hitters had two-hit games including senior Brad Brainer (Chester, Md./Kent Island/Chesapeake JC), who hit his ninth double of the season and sophomore Rich Conlon (Vienna, Va./James Madison), who had three RBI. Sophomore Austin Drewyer (Ellicott City, Md./River Hill) started the game for the Retrievers and had four strikeouts in six-plus innings of work. Sean Gregory allowed one run in five and 2/3 innings of relief to earn the win for the Great Danes.

In the first game, the Retrievers committed five errors and allowed nine unearned runs as Albany scored four or more runs in three separate innings. Junior Ed Bach (Columbia, Md./Atholton) (0-6) took the loss, while David Kubiak struck out five in a complete game win.

Senior Tom Meaney (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem) hit his fifth home run of the year in the fifth inning and is now tied for the team lead with senior Shawn Retz (Baltimore, Md./Western Tech/Catonsville C.C.) and sophomore Bryan Russo (Westbury, N.Y./Clarke). Meaney had a total of four hits and four RBI on the day overall.

The Retrievers and Great Danes will finish the four-game series Sunday in a doubleheader starting at noon.