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| Sophomore Angelo Bruno scored the Skyhawks' lone run in the 2-1 loss to UMass-Lowell on Tuesday. |
River Hawks Take Pitcher's Duel, 2-1
Lowell, Mass. - Matt Giusti (Hopkinton, Mass.) pitched into the tenth inning but in the end the Skyhawks' ace and his teammates came up on the short end of their sixth straight game, this time a 2-1 decision to Northeast-10 rival UMass-Lowell on Tuesday afternoon at LaLaucher Park.
Giusti held the hosts at bay for the first eight innings - at one point retiring 12 straight batters - before yielding single runs in the ninth and tenth innings to suffer his first loss of the season.
UMass-Lowell (11-3, 4-0 Northeast-10), meanwhile, was getting an excellent pitching performance of its own from sophomore Ted Haley, who allowed just three hits and one earned run over eight innings while striking out nine. That lone run came in the fourth when sophomore Nick Nardacci (Glenmont, N.Y.) doubled to left scoring Angelo Bruno (Norwalk, Conn.), who led off the inning with a walk.
The River Hawks evened the score in the ninth when a leadoff walk and a double put runners on second and third with no outs. Another walk and a sacrifice fly plated UMass-Lowell's first run of the day.
Stonehill looked to be in position to take the lead in the top of the tenth when Rob Von Stein (Trumbull, Conn.) walked and then advanced to second on a sacrifice by Nardacci.
Mitch Davis (Bow, N.H.) singled to left and Von Stein headed home but was thrown out at the plate by River Hawks' left fielder Cam Kneeland.
Matt Jacobs led off the bottom of the tenth with a walk and then advanced to second on a balk. Felix Martinez then collected the game-winning hit - a single down the left field line that scored Jacobs and gave the River Hawks their eighth straight win.
Offensively for Stonehill (7-10, 0-4 Northeast-10), Ryan Healey (Lynn, Mass.) had two hits, including a double, while Davis, Nardacci and Javier Guzman (San Juan, P.R.) had the other three.
The Skyhawks will look to break back into the win column on Thursday when they host the River Hawks at Lou Gorman Field. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.