RINDGE, N.H. - The Caldwell College baseball team defeated the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, 9-4 in the first round of the NCAA Division II Baseball Northeast Region Tournament Thursday evening at Pappas Field. The fourth-seeded Cougars (25-13) advance through the winner's bracket and will face second-seeded Adelphi University on Friday, May 18, beginning at 6:00 p.m. at Pappas Field. The third-seeded River Hawks drop to 34-18 and will face top-seeded Franklin Pierce College at 2:30 p.m.

Caldwell opened the scoring in the top of the first with two runs. Junior Tommy Murphy (Monroe, NY/Washingtonville) came home from third on a wild pitch, then senior Billy Ryan (Toms River, NJ/Manchester) plated freshman Adric Saxon (Coral Springs, FL/Broward CC) with a single for a 2-0 lead. The River Hawks tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the second, including an RBI single from Brendan Fullerton. The Cougars regained the lead in the top of the third when Ryan's grounder brought home Saxon, but UML knotted the game at 3-3 on Jerod Edmondson's solo home run in the bottom of the third.

In the top of the fourth, the Cougars loaded the bases before freshman Doug Hilgenberg (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) came home on Murphy's sacrifice fly for a 4-3 lead. Caldwell loaded the bases again in the sixth for Saxon, whose single to right centerfield plated Hilgenberg put the Cougars up 5-3. And in the seventh, with the bases full of Cougars for a third time, a throwing error allowed freshmen Jon Irwin (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) and Raymond Keelan (Barnegat, NJ/Southern Regional) to come home to make the score 7-3 Caldwell. After a walk loaded the bases yet again, junior Chris Chiarappa (Elmont, NY/Holy Trinity) singled home two more runs for a 9-3 advantage. The River Hawks added a run-scoring double by Sean Patno in the bottom of the eighth, but the Cougars wrapped up their first NCAA Region victory since 2004.

Freshman Omar Velazquez (Astoria, NY/Long Island City) had three hits, with Saxon, Chiarappa and Hilgenberg recording two hits apiece. Freshman Robert Casal (Howard Beach, NY/St. Francis Prep) performed well on the mound for Caldwell, striking out 10 while giving up four runs on seven hits in 8 1/3 innings to improve to 10-1 on the season. Fellow frosh Buddy Riggs (Coral Springs, FL/Taravella) closed out the game with a fly out and strikeout in the ninth. Joe Malzone lasted three innings and took the loss for UML.

The Cougars, who went 1-2 in the 2004 Northeast Regional, played Adelphi earlier this season, losing 15-8 on Apr. 20 at Smith Field.