UMBC

Baltimore, MD - -- The UMBC Retrievers (19-25, 15-12 NEC) qualified for the 2003 Northeast Conference Baseball Tournament by virtue of their 6-1 victory over the St. Francis (NY) Terriers (21-19-1, 17-10 NEC), Tuesday afternoon at UMBC Alumni Field. A loss today by the Retrievers, in their final NEC contest, would have given the #4 seed to Quinnipiac.UMBC sophomore righthander Matt Farina (5-2) went the distance, scattering 10 hits, while walking three and fanning five Terriers.St. Francis (NY) opened the scoring in the top of the third inning on RBI double by junior leftfielder Mike Molinini. The Retrievers, however, answered back with a run on a sacrifice fly by junior second baseman Kevin Brooks in the bottom of the frame.The score remained tied a 1-1 until UMBC broke the game open with a five-run explosion in the bottom of the seventh inning. UMBC loaded the bases with no outs on an error and a pair of bunt singles. After an out, Brooks drew a bases loaded walk, and UMBC received another gift run on a passed ball by Terriers' catcher Bryan Mancini. Senior catcher Scott Kosmicky then launched a three-run homer (7th) to left off of reliever Thomas Curry to put the game away. The Retrievers recorded five of their eight hits in the frame.Kosmicky went 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI's and Brooks added a pair of RBI's. SR leftfielder Joe Muscillo went 3-for-3 as well.Mancini, Molinini, and centerfielder Vincent Caiazza each had two hits for the Terriers.Junior righthander Robert Eberhart (1-5) took the loss, despite allowing just four hits and two earned runs in 6.0 innings of work.The #4 seeded Retrievers will face #1 seeded Central Connecticut State on Friday at 12:00 pm in Lakewood, New Jersey. The #2 seeded Terriers will face #3 seeded Monmouth in the other first round game. - -UMBC - - -