Baseball Splits Saturday’s Doubleheader At UMBC

BALTIMORE – The University at Albany baseball team rallied from a 4-3 loss in game one to trounce the hosting UMBC Retrievers, 13-1, in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader. The Great Danes are now 5-10 overall and 2-3 in America East Conference play this season.

UAlbany knocked a season-high 15 hits in game two while hurlers Kasceim Graham and Brendan Ryan limited the Retrievers to just three hits. Graham (3-2) earned the win, allowing one run and three hits in seven innings, while striking out three. Ryan threw the final two hitless frames, striking out one.

Going 3-for-5 with three runs batted in and two runs scored, Nolan Gaige became UAlbany’s all-time leader in career triples after belting two in the victory. He now has hit 13 in his career.

Josh Nethaway (3-for-6), D.J. Hoagboon (3-for-3), and Greg Muller (2-for-5) also had multiple hits in the contests, while Muller scored a team-high four runs.

UAlbany jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, as Gaige and Muller reached base on a walk and dropped third strike, respectively. With one out, Nethaway lined an RBI single down the left field line and Welsh plated Muller with a sacrifice fly to center.

The Great Danes tacked on another run in the third, sparked by Muller’s leadoff double to right centerfield. Brian Bullard then knocked him home with a one-out single to left.

Cutting the margin to one, the Retrievers got on the board in the fifth, as Jason Allinder belted a leadoff home run over the left field wall.

However, UAlbany put the game away in the top of the eighth, plating a season-high eight runs in the frame. Evan Harasta and Gaige started the inning off with back-to-back singles through the left side. Moving up a bag on Gordon Madej’s sac bunt, Muller lined Harasta home on a single to left and Nethaway followed with a double to center, plating Gaige. The rally continued as Hoagboon singled up the middle and a costly error on a fielder’s choice allowed Hoagboon to advance and Welsh to reach base.

With two outs, Joey Tracy walked, loading the bases, and another fielding error allowed a run to score and the inning to continue. With the bases still loaded, Gaige took full advantage, plating three with his triple to the right field gap, giving UAlbany a comfortable 11-1 lead.

The Great Danes added two more insurance runs in the ninth after Muller was hit by a pitch and Nethaway doubled to left-center. Hoagboon and Welsh scored both base runners on back-to-back sacrifice flies to right field.

Tossing two and a third innings, Denis Mikush (0-1) took the loss for UMBC, as the Retrievers used four arms in the game.

In game one of the series, UAlbany rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie it up in the final frame. After UMBC scored a run in the fourth and two unearned runs in the fifth, the Danes got the bats going in the seventh. Welsh and Bullard lined back-to-back singles to lead of the inning, and Adam Mund slugged a double to left, plating one. With one out, Gaige plated both base runners with a single up the middle, making it three-all.

However, in their last at-bats, UMBC scored the winning run on Kevin LaChance’s sacrifice fly.

Cameron Sorgie (1-1) pitched all six and two-third innings for UAlbany, allowing five hits, while striking out seven. Mac Gill (2-0) earned the win for the Retrievers, giving up 10 hits, striking out one.

The series-decider is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. Sunday in Baltimore.