Box Score LOWELL, Mass. – Host UMass Lowell manufactured a run in the bottom of the 10th inning to post a 6-5 victory over Southern New Hampshire University in Northeast-10 baseball Wednesday afternoon at LeLacheur Park. The River Hawks won their seventh straight to improve to 19-2 and 6-0 in the NE-10, while the Penmen, who suffered their fourth extra inning setback and eighth loss by one run this season, are now 9-12 and 0-4 in the league.
Cam Kneeland led UML with a pair of hits while also driving in a pair of runs. Rob Noe also finished with two hits for the River Hawks. Matt Boulter (Wrentham, Mass.) led Southern New Hampshire, going 4-5 at the plate with two runs scored. It marked his fourth game with three or more hits out of his last five. Chris O'Neil (Chelmsford, Mass.) went 3-5 with two runs batted in, his team-leading 11th multi-hit game, while Tim Rines (Merrimack, N.H.) went 2-5 with a pair of runs.
Tied 5-5 going into the 10th, UML would get the lead runner on when Noe singled to leadoff the frame. SNHU pitcher Bryant Gauthier (Lynn, Mass.) was lifted for Zach LeBarron (Bennington, Vt.). LeBarron walked pinch hitter Jordan Silva, and with Noe in scoring position, he was lifted for pinch runner Felix Martinez.
Following the walk, Ryan Walfield (Stratford, N.H.) replaced LeBarron on the hill. After both runners advanced on an error by Walfield, Mark Sanborn singled to right to bring in Martinez.
SNHU took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when a single by O'Neil plated Rines. The River Hawks tied the game in the bottom of the frame, but the Penmen scored three times in the second. Back-to-back doubles by Rines and Jamie Wollerman (Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.) brought in the first run, while Wollerman and Boulter would score when Robert Wronski (Arlington, Mass.) reached on an error. UMass Lowell would counter with four runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-4 lead.
The Penmen tied the game in the top of the fourth. Boulter led off the inning with a double to right and scored when O'Neil delivered a one-out single through the right side.
SNHU's best chance to take the lead came in the eighth. The first two batters would get on, as Wollerman walked and Boulter singled to left. Following an out, O'Neil would load the bases with his single, but the next batter, Kevin Spatkowski (Bristol, Conn.) grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Garrett Cole worked 3.1 innings of relief for UMass Lowell to earn the victory, his third of the season. Gauthier took the loss despite throwing four perfect innings of relief prior to his leadoff hit in the 10th, fanning three. Derrick Sylvester (Franklin, N.H.) made his first start of the season for the Penmen and allowed nine hits and five runs in his five innings of work.
SNHU is scheduled to return to action on Saturday when it travels to Pace University for a noon Northeast-10 doubleheader.
