{"id":214459,"date":"2026-03-11T06:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T06:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/214459\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T06:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T06:58:09","slug":"river-hawks-fight-off-sacramento-state-claim-7-2-triumph-in-midweek-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/214459\/","title":{"rendered":"River Hawks Fight Off Sacramento State, Claim 7-2 Triumph in Midweek Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2013 Senior Carlos Martinez<\/a> (Coamo, Puerto Rico) performed well at the plate going 2-for-4 with a double and two runs, as the UMass Lowell baseball team (4-7) fought off Sacramento State (5-11), 7-2, in a midweek contest at John Smith Field on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

“Great team win today,” said Head Coach Nick Barese<\/a>. “I can’t say enough about the bullpen, especially Nolan Geisler<\/a>. Two massive double plays in huge spots. Offensively we kept plugging away, and Cali got the big hit when we needed it.”<\/p>\n

Senior Joseph DeLanzo<\/a> (Nutley, N.J.) also went 2-for-4 at bat with two RBI, as junior Scott Donahue<\/a> (Medfield, Mass.) added a hit, a run, and an RBI in the contest. Beginning on the bump, graduate student Frankie DeMaro<\/a> (Newburgh, N.Y.) pitched 4.0 innings with two strikeouts, allowing one run in his outing. Sophomore Nolan Geisler<\/a> (Bayonne, N.J.) got his first win of the season, going 1.2 innings with a strikeout, while freshman Josh Doney<\/a> (Lynn, Mass.) went 2.0 innings, tossing two strikeouts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0first inning ended quickly for either side, as DeMaro began the game on the mound for the River Hawks, punching out a batter early to close the frame. Back up to bat, UMass Lowell walked its first two batters in Martinez and graduate student Nicholas Solorzano<\/a> (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) after battling the count. DeLanzo followed in the order, stroking a single through the left side to drive Martinez home, taking the first lead of the contest, 1-0. Although the Hornets added a single in the bottom half, DeMaro stayed collected, as a foul ball caught by Donahue and a swing and a miss concluded the inning. The River Hawks maintained their lead through the third, eventually adding another score in the visitors half of the fourth. Martinez cracked a double to advance redshirt-sophomore Sean O’Leary<\/a> (Foxboro, Mass.) to third before Donahue recorded an RBI on a groundout, making it a 2-0 UMass Lowell lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sacramento State responded though in the home half of the fourth, narrowing the gap to one run, 2-1. The fifth was runless for both teams, as sophomore Jake LeFrancois<\/a> (Worcester, Mass.) got out of the jam after starting with two singles, closing on back-to-back fly-ball outs. However, the Hornets stuck with it offensively, tying the game at 2-2, but Geisler entered the game, wrapping up the frame with a 6-4-3 double play. Now in the seventh inning, a pair of singles from Donahue and DeLanzo had two on base for the River Hawks. Sophomore Brayden Cali<\/a> (Taunton, Mass.) came after, ripping a single down the left field line to plate Donahue on the play, reclaiming the lead at 3-2 in the top of the frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Momentum grew for UMass Lowell in the eighth inning, as junior Rowan Masse<\/a> (Manchester, Conn.) led off with a walk and then took third after the pitcher made an error. O’Leary on the four pitch smacked the ball to right center for a double, driving Masse in for a 4-2 lead. Martinez hit a single, and Solorzano reached on a fielder’s choice to add another run with O’Leary tagging home. Junior Ryan Strand<\/a> (Goffstown, N.H.) entered as a pinch runner for Solorzano, eventually advanced to second with Martinez adding a run after an RBI groundout by DeLanzo. Strand stole third, and was home in no time after Chance walked with the bases loaded, extending UMass Lowell’s lead to 7-2. The River Hawks delivered clutch defensive plays down the stretch. With Doney on the mound as closer, the game ended on a called third strike, securing a 7-2 victory over Sacramento State.<\/p>\n

The River Hawks will resume play this Thursday, March 12, as the team heads to Pepperdine for a four-game series in Malibu, Calif. The first pitch is set to begin at 6 p.m. ET. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2013 Senior Carlos Martinez (Coamo, Puerto Rico) performed well at the plate going 2-for-4 with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-214459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}