BOSTON, Mass. -- The Castleton University baseball team came up short twice as it suffered a doubleheader sweep to UMass Boston Sunday afternoon at Mohan Park.

UMass Boston 9, Castleton 8

The Spartans (6-8, 4-3 LEC) fell behind early as the Beacons (2-1, 2-1 LEC) took a 1-0 advantage in the bottom half of the first inning. After Ben Irvine advanced around the basepath after a leadoff single, Craig Corliss ripped an RBI single to right field, scoring Irvine to give the Beacons the lead.

The Beacons scored four runs and began to pull away in the bottom half of the third inning. Irvine led off the inning with a walk and took second base on a balk from starting pitcher Aubrey Ramey. After a Gianni Zarrilli singled placed runners on the corner, Curtis Tirone singled up the middle to give the Beacons a 2-0 lead. Corliss followed with a two-RBI double down the left-field line and would later score to give the Beacons a 5-0 lead.

The Spartans finally tallied a run in the top half of the fourth inning as Armando Cardenas recorded an RBI single that scored Johnny McComas from third base. With both Cardenas and Addison Schaub on the basepath, Ryan Lawrence ripped a two-RBI double to center field to cut the deficit to 5-3.

With Ramey still on the mound, the Beacons scored four more runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Errors plagued the Spartans throughout the inning as all of the runs scored by the Beacons were unearned. After the first out was recorded, Nico Kydes reached base and advanced to third on a Lawrence error in center field and then scored on a Chris Ducko single back to the mound. Both Zarrilli and Tirone recorded RBI hits later in the inning as the Beacons extended the lead to 9-3.

The Spartans began to rally in the top half of the eighth inning as Lawrence recorded his fourth of his game-high five RBIs on a single down the left-field line, cutting the deficit to 9-5. The Spartans continued to rally the next inning as Lawrence picked up a bases-loaded walk and Hunter Perkins connected and slapped a single to right field, cutting the Beacons lead to 9-8. Reece de Castro, however, flew out the next at-bat as the Beacons held on.

UMass Boston 8, Castleton 7

With Zack Marlow on the mound for the Spartans, the Beacons jumped out to a lead. In the bottom half of the third inning, Zarrilli led off with a walk and advanced to second base on a passed ball. With Zarrilli on third base, Corliss grounded out to second base, giving the Beacons a 1-0 lead. The Beacons stretched the lead to three later that inning as both Steve Brookwell and Michael Comeau tallied RBI singles.

The Spartans broke through and took the lead in the top half of the fifth inning. Perkins, who recorded three hits in the doubleheader, led off the inning with a double down the right-field line. Evan Keegan, who was held hitless in the first game, later followed and recorded an RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-1. With two on and two outs, the Spartans tied the game at three as McComas ripped a hard line drive down the right-field line, scoring both Keegan and Jeremy Johnson. The Spartans would take the lead shortly after as an error on a Cardenas groundball scored Zac Willis, giving the Spartans a 4-3 lead.

The Beacons rallied and regained the lead in the bottom half of the fifth inning, tallying four runs on three hits to take a 7-4 lead. Marlow exited the game with two outs in the inning as he finished his day pitching 4.2 innings, giving up seven runs on five hits and striking out five batters.

In a familiar position all day, the Spartans rallied once again and cut the deficit to one in the top half of the seventh inning. Perkins recorded another extra-base hit, a two-RBI double to center field, scoring both Cardenas and McComas as the Beacons continued to lead, 7-6.

The Beacons added an insurance run in the bottom half of the eighth inning as Aidan Blake recorded a bases-loaded RBI single to left field to give the Beacons an 8-6 lead.

Keegan collected an RBI single in the top half of the ninth inning, but the Spartans stranded the tying and go-ahead runs as Johnson flew out to center field to end the game.

Castleton returns to action Monday, April 19, as it travels to Danbury, Conn. to take on Western Connecticut State in a Little East Conference contest starting at 2 p.m.