CATONSVILLE, Md. — The Robert Morris Colonials (4-16) head to their last tournament of the preseason Catonsville, Maryland as they compete in the UBMC Retriever Classic and they will only take on the two teams, the host team University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers (9-10) and the Albany Great Danes (7-7). The Colonials played a double header against the Penn State Nittany Lions (14-13) and they split the double-header.

The Retrievers last played a double headers a the Coppin State Bald Eagles (2-8) and the result of those games were the Retrievers taking both games from the Eagles. The Great Danes won both games in the double header against Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers (10-15).

Recapping RMU

The Colonials last took on the Penn State Nittany Lions in a double-header in which the Colonials won the final game and lost the second. In the first game the Colonials came out scoring in the first inning as they scored two runs and in the fourth inning they added two more runs to their score. The pitching staff held Penn State scoreless until the sixth inning as the Nittany Lions had one run cross the plate. Freshmen Dana Vatakis was in the circle for the entire game and had three strikeouts and only allowed five hits.

In the second game of the double-header, the tables turned as Penn State ran away with this game in a mercy rule shutout in five innings. The game was only separated by one run until the third inning when the Nittany Lions unleashed the hits on the Colonials pitching staff by scoring the 10 runs. In the circle for Penn State was junior Hannah Shields, who only allowed three hits and had four strikeouts.

Recapping UMBC

In the first game neither team scored until the third inning where both teams scored one run. In the fifth inning is where the Retrievers took this game as they scored four runs while the Eagles only scored one run. In the circle of the Retrievers was Courtney Coppersmith who only allowed two runs to cross the plate and had 13 strikeouts to get the win for the team.

In the second game the Eagles got an early lead in the first inning but UMBC fought back by scoring two unanswered runs in the second and fourth inning. In the sixth inning, is when the Retrievers scored themselves the win when they added seven runs to their score.

Recapping Albany

The first game of two game series against Mount St. Mary’s, the Great Danes got a one run lead in the first inning before the Mountaineers scored two runs to give them the lead in the second. Neither team scored until the Great Danes scored the three runs to win the game.

The second game was just as close as the first game but the Great Danes came out with an even stronger lead by scoring three runs in the first inning. The Mountaineers could only score one run in the second inning and one run in the sixth inning. While the Great Danes added two more runs to their score in the third inning to give them the edge they fought for to sweep the Mountaineers on their home field.

Players to watch

Dana Vatakis (RMU): Vatakis is only a freshman but she has the most time in the circle out ot the entire Colonial pitching staff. She is able to hold her own against more experienced hitters and be the arm the Colonials need to take back an otherwise poor start to the season.

Sierra Pierce (UMBC): Pierce led the team in batting average with .397 and had 15 runs batted in. She has only been struck out seven times in their first 19 games, and had a slugging percentage of .517. She has only one error this season and an on-base percentage of .435.

Katie Falotico (ALBANY): Falotico leads the team in plate appearances with 46 and a batting average of .326. She has five double and two triples this season, plus a slugging percentage of .522. She has 10 runs batted in and an on-base percentage of .373.

Looking ahead

After the tournament, the Colonials play on their home field for the first time in the 2019 season in a double-header against the Cleveland State Vikings (6-16) on Wednesday March 27th 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.