POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – The Marist baseball team picked up its third straight win and seventh in its last eight games with an 8-7 victory vs the UMass Lowell River Hawks on Wednesday afternoon.

SUMMARY:

The River Hawks took the game's first lead in the top of the second inning with a one out double down the left field line and an RBI single, two batters later to take the 1-0 lead.

The Red Foxes answered, tying the game in the bottom of the inning. Redshirt junior Jordan Roper walked with one out and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Junior Randy Taveras single to the pitcher to set up men on first and third and redshirt junior Chris Tracz knocked in Roper with an RBI sac fly to left field for the 1-0 lead.

Marist took the lead in the third when junior Anthony Lazar led off with a double off the center field fence and senior Andrew Rouse followed with an RBI single to left center. Rouse stole second during the next at bat and three batters later, redshirt sophomore Tyler Kapuscinski reached on a fielding error by the shortstop that moved Rouse to third. A wild pitch advanced Kapuscinski to second and Roper laced a two RBI single to left field to give the Red Foxes the 4-1 lead.

For the third straight inning, Marist scored in the fifth when Tracz walked, advanced to second on a sac bunt by freshman Reece Armitage and third on a ground out. Rouse followed with an RBI single through the left side to make it a 5-1 lead.

In the sixth, the Red Foxes tacked on three more runs. Junior Frankie Gregoire walked, Kapuscinski walked and after a UMass Lowell pitching change, Roper was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Two batters later, Tracz picked up an RBI walk that scored Gregoire and a wild pitch scored Kapuscinski and advanced Roper and Tracz to third and second respectively. After Armitage walked to reload the bases, Lazar knocked in Roper with an RBI sac fly to left and it was 8-1 Marist.

The River Hawks answered in their next at bat with a walk, single, RBI single and three run home run to trim the deficit to 8-5.

One inning later, UMass Lowell made it a two run game at 8-6 with a walk, single, wild pitch and a second wild pitched that scored a run from third.

The score remained the same until the top of the ninth inning when the River Hawks came to the plate with their chance to tie the game. After a line out by the leadoff hitter, UMass Lowell picked up a single up the middle, single through the right side and an RBI single to left field that scored the runner from second and trimmed the deficit to 8-7. However, senior Mike Coss then retired the next two hitter with a pop up to right and a strike out
swinging to secure the 8-7 win and with his third save of the season.

KEY STATS:

• The River Hawks scored 7 runs on 12 hits, while the Red Foxes scored 8 runs on 9 hits
• UMass Lowell made one error that gave Marist 2 unearned runs
• 7 players for the River Hawks had at least one hit, while the Red Foxes had six players with hits

GAME NOTES:

• Pichardo picked up his 1^st win of the season and threw 4.2 innings with 5 strikeouts, one shy of his career high in both categories
• Lazar set a season high with 3 hits and tied a career high with 2 doubles, his 2nd multi-double game of the year
• Rouse picked up his 3^rd multi-hit game in his last 4 games played and set a season high with 2 RBI
• Kapuscinski extended his hitting streak to 5 games
• Roper tied a career high with 2 runs and 2 RBI
• Taveras extended his hitting streak to 3 games
• Freshman Nick Cantone made his 2^nd appearance on the mound and picked up his 2^nd career scoreless appearance and set a career high with 2 strikeouts

UP NEXT:

Marist returns to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action this weekend when they travel to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for an away series vs the Siena Saints. The two teams were scheduled to play at Siena on Friday and Saturday, however due to field conditions, they will now play a nine and seven inning doubleheader on Sunday (Noon) and a single game on Monday (1 p.m.).