UMBC

Sophomore David DiVita pitched six solid innings Tuesday night.

BETHESDA, Md.—The UMBC baseball team scored four runs in the eighth inning to gain a 9-3 lead before holding on for a 9-7 victory at Georgetown on Tuesday night. With the win, the Retrievers improve to 6-26 on the season, while the Hoyas fall to 11-25.

Down one going into the top of the fourth, senior Wink Nolan (Ellicott City, Md./Calvert Hall/Maryland) led off the inning with a single to right center before fellow senior Shawn Retz (Baltimore, Md./Western Tech/Catonsville C.C.) launched his team-leading seventh home run of the season to give the Retrievers a 2-1 lead.

UMBC would add two more in the fifth inning when freshman Justin Lamborn (Glen Mills, Pa./Garnett Valley) and sophomore Rich Conlon (Vienna, Va./James Madison) reached on an error and a hit-by-pitch, respectively. After Lamborn stole third and Conlon took second on an error, Nolan stepped up and hit a single to left center to extend the lead to three.

After the Hoyas scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth, the Retrievers added a fifth run when senior Tom Meaney (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem) doubled to lead off the inning and would score as sophomore Rick Phillips (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) grounded into a double play.

The Retrievers seemingly broke the game open in the eighth when sophomore Rich Conlon () singled through the right side to score junior Dustin Ferguson (North East, Md./North East/Cecil College) and Phillips. Sophomore Casey Medairy (Elkridge, Md./Howard) followed with a single to left-center field to score Lamborn and Conlon would score on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Nolan to give UMBC a 9-3 lead.

Georgetown staged a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, with Andy Lentz hit an RBI double before Erick Fernandez and Sean Baumann hit back-to-back home runs to cut the lead to 9-7. Freshman Steve Miller (Newark, Del./Dickinson) came up but allowed the bases to load before inducing Greg Pustizzi to line out to end the game and earn his second save.

Sophomore starter David DiVita (Mayfield Village, Ohio/Mayfield) (1-0) was very solid for the Retrievers, allowing just three runs, two earned, while striking out three in six innings of work. Freshman Michael Pesci (Parsippany, N.J./DePaul Catholic) allowed four runs in 2 and 1/3 innings of relief.

Georgetown starter Dan Godefroi (0-1) took the loss, allowing four runs in five innings with three strikeouts.

The Retrievers return to action Wednesday when they play host to George Washington at 7 p.m. An audio webcast of the game will be broadcast on taped delay at Herb FM on live365.com. The game will be broadcast Thursday at 6 p.m. For more information, please visit Herb FM’s site.