Season In Review - UMass Lowell Athletics (2024)

With a new skipper and plenty of new faces on the roster, the UMass Lowell baseball team was ready to get the 2024 season underway and make another run at a conference championship.

Nick Barese was named the head coach of the program on August 7, 2023, after serving as the top assistant with the River Hawks for the last two seasons. Barese and longtime River Hawk Joe Consolmagno welcomed Dan Cellucci to the team on January 30, 2024, to complete the coaching staff.

The River Hawks opened the season with a four-game series at High Point. A pair of freshman came through in their debuts as James Capellupo earned his first collegiate win with four strikeouts in 2.0 innings and Sean O’Leary’s grand slam in the top of the 11th inning secured a 10-6 opening day win for UMass Lowell.

High Point tied the series in game two before the River Hawks held off a late surge to take game three 11-9. Carlos Martinez broke the UMass Lowell Division I program record for single-game home runs with three homers in the victory. Alfred Mucciarone tallied his first collegiate win in the series finale, a 6-1 win to give UMass Lowell the 3-1 series win to open the campaign.

A difficult stretch followed and saw the River Hawks fall in nine straight contests against William & Mary, Kansas State, Creighton and the first game of the series at Oral Roberts. UMass Lowell got back in the win column with a 10-7 win in game two of a doubleheader against the Golden Eagles behind productive days from Fritz Genther and Roddy Hernandez. The River Hawks dominated the finale 16-3 with an offensive explosion from Martinez, O’Leary, Hernandez and Conor Kelly, and took the series 2-1.

The 18-game road trip concluded with a visit to Penn State. The Nittany Lions took game one 3-2 before the River Hawks evened things up with an 11-9 win in game two thanks to a seven-run fourth inning. Kelly went 2-4 with three runs while Michael Simes earned his first win of the season and James Capellupo recorded his second save of the year.

After over a month away, UMass Lowell opened the home slate with an America East matchup against UAlbany. The River Hawks got off to a slow start but scored 10 runs in three innings to take game one of the doubleheader. UAlbany tied the series in game two before the finale was canceled due to weather.

After falling to Dartmouth and dropping game one of the weekend series at Binghamton, the River Hawks looked to get back on track. A 7-5 win in the first game of the Sunday doubleheader tied the series before UMass Lowell’s offense showed how dangerous it can be and cruised to a series win. Alex Luccini, Brandon Fish, River Hart and Fritz Genther each tallied three hits as the offense scored in seven of the nine innings.

Three-hit games from Genther and Martinez and an eight-run seventh inning saw the River Hawks hit double figures once again in a 14-9 victory to take the weekend series against Maine, their second conference series win of the year.

UMass Lowell won its fourth game in five contests with a big 7-6 win over Boston College on the road. Frankie Venezia and Zach Fortuna were stellar on the mound while Carlos Martinez and Conor Kelly led the offense with five hits and five RBI combined.

The regular season came to aa close with a six-game home stand for UMass Lowell. After falling to NJIT 2-1 in the final conference series of the year, the River Hawks ended the season with non-conference games against Northeastern and Marist. After falling to the Huskies, the River Hawks split a doubleheader with Red Foxes to conclude the regular season.

UMass Lowell entered the America East Championship as the #4 seed and faced the #5 UAlbany Great Danes in the opening game of the tournament, hosted by Binghamton in Vestal, New York.

The River Hawks took a 3-0 lead after two innings, but the Great Danes offense put together four unanswered runs to lead 4-3 in the top of the eighth. Carlos Martinez’s solo homer to right field tied the game in the bottom of the eighth, setting up a dramatic finish.

UMass Lowell then took on #1 Bryant on day two of the tournament. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and the River Hawks could not fight all the way back, falling 8-4 and now facing elimination.

On day three of the tournament, UMass Lowell faced off against #3 NJIT in a win or go home game. The Highlanders built a 6-3 lead heading into the seventh inning. Fritz Genther’s double scored Brown to make it a two-run game heading into the eighth. Once again, Trey Brown came up huge with a two RBI single that tied the game. NJIT answered with two in the bottom of the eighth and held on to win, eliminating UMass Lowell from the tournament.