BRISTOL, R.I. – A ninth-inning home run by Grant Bolin (Simsbury, Conn.) marked his school-record 20th career dinger, but was not enough as the University of Massachusetts-Boston defeated the Roger Williams University Baseball team 15-6 Thursday afternoon.
Bolin sent a shot to deep right field in his final at-bat of the game, moving him past Brian Robinson ('04) atop the all-time leaderboard for home runs as a Hawk. The power surge for Bolin has come late in his career, as he has tallied 14 home runs since the beginning of 2009.
The Beacons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI double by Mike McCormack (Shelton, Conn.) and a sacrifice fly by Tim Fontaine (Worcester, Mass.). Roger Williams would bring one run across in the fourth with Bolin scoring on an RBI single by Zach Porter (Middleboro, Mass.).
UMass-Boston broke out for four runs in their following at-bat on two-RBI hits by Drew Tambling (Sterling, Mass.) and McCormack, extending their lead to five. Yet the Hawks continued to chip away at the deficit. RWU's Chris Comeau (Southbury, Conn.) and Tim Georgen (Bristol, Conn.) scored in the fifth, followed by Bolin's RBI single in the sixth to make it a 6-4 game.
In the top of the seventh, the Beacons broke the game open, sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring six runs in the inning to take a commanding 12-4 lead. Roger Williams' Matthew Roche (Bristol, Conn.) knocked an RBI double in the bottom of the inning to get one more run for the Hawks.
The Beacons would not be done scoring, as they scored three more in the eighth, highlighted by a two-run home run to center by Ryan Walsh (Newton, Mass.) to put UMass-Boston up by double-digits en route to the win.
Danny Gomez (East Boston, Mass.) earned the win, going six innings while allowing four runs (three earned) off seven hits with five strikeouts. Daniel Heefner (Tracy, Calif.) pitched three innings of relief, giving up a pair of runs. McCormack had a solid offensive showing for the Beacons, going 4-for-6 with four RBI and three runs scored. Tambling added three hits, three runs scored, and two RBI.
Josh Orosz (Fairfield, Conn.) was tagged for 12 runs (six earned) in 6.2 innings in the loss. Chris Anderson (Westerly, R.I.) allowed three runs in one inning of work, while Logan Hartman (Fairfield, Conn.) and Billy Dunn (Fiskdale, Mass.) combined for 1.1 scoreless innings. Bolin finished the day 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. Porter and Roche each added two hits and an RBI.
Roger Williams (12-24) closes out the season Friday evening with a non-conference home game against Wheaton College at 3:30 p.m., while UMass-Boston (22-15) wraps up its regular season Saturday with a noon Little East doubleheader at home against Rhode Island College.
