After dropping two consecutive games, the UMBC Retrievers baseball team hosted Towson at alumni field. These two teams play each other yearly and this game has become known as the “beltway battle”. The Retrievers have been fighting to keep a winning record this season, but with their recent losing streak, they were in danger of falling under the .500 mark. The Retrievers would look to get back on track against the Tigers, but Towson pitcher Dallas Repine had other plans.
Towson would start strong in the first inning scoring 2 runs on a Noah Cabrera RBI single and a Richard Miller RBI double. The Tigers would add to their total in the second inning after a Trent Gast-Woodard leadoff home run and Zach Piazza RBI single to extend the score to 4-0. Retriever bats would be quieted through the first 4 innings.
Towson would build on their lead in the fifth inning with a Javon Fields 2 RBI single and a Zach Piazza RBI fielder’s choice to extend the score further to 7-0. In the sixth inning, UMBC got their lone chance on the evening to get back into the game as they got help from the Tigers defense with 2 errors, loading the bases with 0 outs. A flyball to center field, and an unbelievable catch by Towson second basemen, Noah Cabrera, would start an incredible double play to get the Tigers out of the jam with no damage.
Tigers pitcher Repine would flirt with a no-hit bid through 7 innings until Andres Machado hit a single to the left side of the infield on the first pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning, ending Repine’s no-hitter. Repine finished with a magnificent stat line of 8 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, and 7 K’s. He would drop his season ERA from 12.05 to 8.44.
Joey Goodwin would spoil Towson’s shutout in the ninth inning on an RBI single scoring Christian Torres. Joe Milkowski would hit into an RBI groundout to score the Retrievers second run. The Retrievers finished the evening with 2 runs on 3 hits.
UMBC pitchers Greg Albert and Colton Bare were one of the few positives on the night as they pitched a combined 4.2 IP, 4 hits, and 0 runs, with Bare finishing with 5 K’s.
UMBC falls to 16-17 on the season. The Retrievers will seek revenge next Tuesday as they take the short trip up I-695 to take on Towson as they aim to split the season series against the Tigers.
UMBC will have a quick turnaround as they play Wednesday against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) at 3 p.m. at Alumni Field. The weekend series will be a matchup of the last 2 America East champions, as the Retrievers face off against the Hartford Hawks. Hartford currently sits at 12-19 overall, and second place in the conference. UMBC will look to improve on their 3-9 conference record.
