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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Luck of the Irish was not with the Hawks on St. Patrick's Day as the Green and White of the Charlotte 49ers capitalized on an offensive outburst in the first two innings to defeat the Hawks, 17 to 5 in non-conference action Tuesday. With the defeat, UMES' three game win streak was snapped, and their record dropped to 5-11 overall this season.

Despite the loss there were some bright spots for UMES, particularly on offense. Senior Greg Turlik (Gaithersburg, Md.) went 2-for-4 on the day, scoring on a wild pitch and knocking in a run in the fifth. Freshman Quenton Hamrick (New Castle, Del.) kept his hot streak with a pair of doubles and sophomore Troy Anderson (Bridgeport, W.Va.) drove him Hamrick in the second for his first RBI of the season. Another freshman, Jamison Trower (Chesterfield, Va.), came off the bench late and smashed his first collegiate home run in the eighth inning.

The 49ers' offense came alive in the first two innings to essentially but the game out of reach. After the first two batters walked, outfielder Zach Jarrett singled home a run, and second baseman T.J. Nichting brought home two more with another single. A double from Brad Elwood and a home run by Logan Sherer followed to make it 6-0, and Charlotte would tack on one more with an RBI single by Danny Raley to make it 7-0 after just one frame.

UMES would respond in the second inning with Turlik scoring on a wild pitch and an Anderson RBI to make it 7-2, but Charlotte would strike four more times in the second to pull ahead even further, 11-2.

Things would remain quiet until the fifth inning when the Hawks would score again on Turlik's RBI, driving home junior Mike Escanilla (Waldorf, Md.) who reached on a hit by pitch. Charlotte would respond with a triple and a sacrifice fly to make the score 12-3, and they would add two more in the bottom of the seventh.

After Trower's home run made it 14-5, Charlotte enjoyed another outburst, scoring three more times by taking advantage of an error and a hit by pitch to complete the scoring.

Charlotte's Matt Horkey pitched five innings to earn the win in relief, while freshman Chris Melrath (Rising Sun, Md.) took the loss in his first collegiate start.

UMES will look to get back in the win column against North Carolina Central tomorrow in a twin billing beginning at 4:00 p.m. in Durham.