BRISTOL, R.I. – Head Coach
Derek Carlson moves into the first place all-time on the Roger Williams University Baseball wins list with 7-0 and 6-2 victories over Nichols College Sunday afternoon.
Carlson tied Val Innocente with the first win in the doubleheader, then broke the record with the win in the second game, earning his 99th victory at Roger Williams. He now sits one win shy of achieving his 100th win as coach of the Hawks.
In the first game, the Hawks' big inning came in the bottom of the second where RWU scored four times in the inning. Three of those runs came off the bat of
Tony Verrocchi (Norwood, Mass.), whotook advantage of an outward wind to bring in
Tim Atwood (Gorham, Maine) and
Ryan MacCarthy (Middleton, Mass.) with a three-run home run to left center.
The long balls did not stop there for RWU, as
Kevin Simpson (Londonderry, N.H.) and
Alex Perry (Glastonbury, Conn.) hit back-to-back home runs in the following inning, giving the Hawks a 6-0 lead. RWU added one more in the bottom of the fourth on a
Bill Lambert (Hanover, Mass.) sacrifice fly.
Brian Hurld (S. Boston, Mass.) earned his first shutout of the season, pitching seven innings of six-hit ball, walking one and striking out five.
Perry and
Grant Bolin (Simsbury, Conn.) each had multiple hits in the game, with Perry going 3-for-3 with a run and an RBI and Bolin picking up two hits in three at-bats with a run scored.
Nichols' Jamie Kimberly (Woodbury, Conn.) dropped to 0-4, giving up seven runs in four innings of work. Austin Martin (Wakefield, R.I.) came on in relief, allowing only one hit in two innings of work.
Christopher Nemeskal (Swampscott, Mass.) did the most damage for the Bison, going 3-for-3 at the plate, while Zachary Johnson (Wakefield, R.I.), Andrew Besegai (Plymouth, Mass.), and Cale LaCasse (Killingly, Conn.) each picked up a hit.
The Bison jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second game with Besegai scoring from second on a two-out RBI single by Colby Jones (Brockport, N.Y.). The Hawks responded in the bottom of the frame with a
Jamie Dahill (Glastonbury, Conn.) RBI single and an RBI groundout by Perry.
In the following inning, the Hawks tacked on two more runs on a sacrifice fly by
Riley Kingery (Metter, Ga.) and an RBI single by Lambert. They followed that up with another two-run inning in the bottom of the third, where Dahill homered to deep center and Simpson scored on a
Zach Porter (Middleboro, Mass.) RBI groundout.
Nichols gained one of those runs back in the fourth, when Joshua Clark (Brunswick, Maine) led off with a walk, eventually coming around to score off the bat of Johnson. The Bison offense stalled at that point, as
Sean Donovan (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) and
Eric Brown (Norwood, Mass.) came on in relief in the fifth and sixth inning, respectively, allowing only a walk between them.
Nichols had a glimmer of hope in the top of the seventh, as
Billy Dunn (Fiskdale, Mass.) allowed Besegai to reach on a muffed throw and then walked Johnson. Yet the Bison rally ended when Dunn picked off Besegai at second and induced Alexander Montalto (Wilmington, Mass.) into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Roger Williams (13-6, 6-0 TCCC) will host Johnson & Wales Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in a non-conference matchup, while Nichols (2-15, 0-6 TCCC) will take on Endicott Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.
