ORONO, Maine – The 2022 America East Baseball Championship began with a bang as two of the first three games ended in walk-off fashion.
The top seeds advanced to the winner’s bracket as #4 UMass Lowell topped #5 UMBC in a back-and-forth affair to begin the tournament. The second game was scoreless through six innings and, after #6 Hartford tied the game at 2-2 in the ninth, #3 NJIT walked off with a 3-2 victory.
#1 Maine will open championship play against the River Hawks Thursday at 11 a.m. #2 Binghamton will take on the Highlanders at 2:30 p.m. The lower-seeded loser of those games will play UMBC at 6:00 p.m.
2022 #AEBASE Championship - Day 1 Recap
#4 UMass Lowell 7, #5 UMBC 6
- Both teams scored in the first inning with the River Hawks grabbing the lead courtesy of a Robert Gallagher lead-off home run and a Jimmy Sullivan RBI double.
- Luke Trythall’s two-run home run in the fifth inning put the Retrievers in front 4-2.
- The River Hawks scored four runs in the next three innings, eventually retaking the lead with two runs in the seventh.
- The Retrievers answered immediately, scoring twice in the top of the eighth as Drew Roberts drove in a run and scored on a wild pitch.
- Fritz Genther drew a lead-off walk in the bottom of the ninth and, after a Gerry Siracusa fielder’s choice, Brandon Fish hit a long double to right field to give the River Hawks the walk-off win.
#3 NJIT 3, #6 Hartford 2
- NJIT had the bases loaded in the first and sixth innings but Hartford escaped via double plays.
- Six scoreless innings led to the bottom of the seventh when Julio Marcano singled off Tim Blaisdell to drive in David Marcano and give the Highlanders a 1-0 lead.
- The Marcano twins combined for six hits, two runs and two RBI.
- Noah Rivera and Devin Kellogg hit back-to-back home runs off Ryan Fischer in the top of the ninth to bring the Hawks even at 2-2.
- After the first two NJIT baserunners reached in the bottom of the ninth, Paul Franzoni shot a ball in the gap to win the game.
- Both starting pitchers completed seven full innings and surpassed 100 pitches.
#5 UMBC 4, #6 Hartford 3
- Ian Diaz homered on the second pitch the Retrievers saw.
- The Hawks answered in the second inning, taking the lead on a sacrifice fly and RBI single.
- Easley scored from first in the home half of the inning and the Retrievers scored one more run in that frame and again in the third to take a 4-2 advantage.
- The Hawks brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth.
- Hartford closed it to 4-3 in the ninth and had the tying run on second, but Keegan Leffler recorded a strikeout to end the game.
Stay up-to-date on the tournament by visiting Championship Central for streaming and live stats links. After each day, visit for box scores, highlights and recaps in addition to team information, tournament history and more.
Follow @AmericaEast and @AEGameday on Twitter to get the real-time championship updates. Use the #AEChamps and #AEBASE hashtags to join the conversation.
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