BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Baseball team extended its winning streak Wednesday afternoon to eight consecutive with a pair of victories over Anna Maria College by the scores 12-6 and 5-3.

 

The AmCats struck first in the second inning when Jeff Lander scored from third on a strikeout that reached the backstop. The Hawks wasted little time coming back, as Zach Porter (Middleboro, Mass.) knotted the game at one in the bottom half with a solo home run. After Grant Bolin (Simsbury, Conn.) and Ryan MacCarthy (Middleton, Mass.) reached base, Tony Verrochi (Middleton, Mass.) sent both of them home with an RBI triple to left center, giving RWU a 3-1 lead.

 

The Hawk offense did not stop there, as five more runs crossed the plate in the following inning off of Porter's two-RBI single and a three-run home run by Billy Dunn (Fiskdale, Mass.). Porter would later add another RBI single in the fourth.

 

Despite trailing, Anna Maria continued to battle back. After putting one run across the board in the fifth, the AmCats scored four in the sixth inning, getting RBI from Matt Touhey (Mendon, Mass.), Andy Fallon (Worcester, Mass.), Michael Galvin (Rutland, Mass.), and Alex Roycewicz (Oxford, Mass.). Yet the rally stopped there, as Anna Maria did not score over the remainder of the game and Porter capped off a 4-for-4 performance with his second home run of the day, finishing with a season-high five RBI.

 

Sam Podbelski (E. Greenwich, R.I.) improved to 4-0, despite surrendering all six runs (five earned) in 5.1 innings. James McNamara (Worcester, Mass.) took the loss, giving up eight runs in three innings.

 

The second game saw an exciting game from start to finish, as the Hawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead off of a 2-0 home run by Kevin Simpson (Londonderry, N.H.) in the bottom of the first. Verrochi added one more run for RWU when MacCarthy scored on his infield single to put the Hawks up by three.

 

Alex Perry (Glastonbury, Conn.) got off to a strong start for the Hawks, flirting with a no-hitter over the first four innings. The AmCats finally got to him in the fifth when James Elliott (Cherry Valley, Mass.) reached after getting hit by a pitch. Touhey followed that up with a single to center field for Anna Maria's first hit of the game. Nick Aromando (Oxford, Mass.) then knocked in Elliott with a sacrifice fly to cut the gap to two. In the next inning, the AmCats tied the game at three when Ryan Brown (Worcester, Mass.) sent a long two-run home run to right field.

 

In the bottom of the seventh, Jamie Dahill (S. Boston, Mass.) led off the inning with a walk, then advanced to third on a heads-up baserunning play off of Simpson's sacrifice bunt. Perry then came up with the plate and sent all the Hawk fans home happy with a walk-off two-run bomb to right field.

 

Sean Donovan (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) earned the win in relief, pitching the final 2.1 innings. Perry finished 1-for-2 with two RBI at the dish and 4.2 innings of one-hit, one-run ball on the mound.

 

Roger Williams (23-8, 15-1 TCCC) will head up to Western New England College Saturday for a noon doubleheader, while Anna Maria College (9-17, 4-10 TCCC) takes on Wentworth Saturday on the road at 12:00 p.m.