Baseball 4/11/2013 6:45:00 PM

Baseball gets walk-off win in 9th-inning rally

BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Baseball team rallied from a three-run deficit for a walk-off win, defeating Rhode Island College 11-10 Thursday afternoon. With the win, the Hawks extend its winning streak to seven games.

Mike Pascarella (Milford, Conn.) and Matt Swensen (Charlton, Mass.) led off the Hawks' opening at-bat with a pair of singles. After John Oppenhimer (Westport, Conn.) sacrficed them over and a Reid Nelson (Wallingford, Conn.) walk, Shawn Cariglio (Milford, Conn.) brought the two in with a two-RBI double. Chris Travers (East Freetown, Mass.) and Mike Thomas (Plainville, Conn.) later followed with RBI singles.

In the second, Oppenhimer and Nelson came through for RWU with RBI singles each to help the Hawks extend their lead to 6-0.

Rhode Island College put their first run of the game on the board in the fourth. Dean Grasso (Cranston, R.I.) knocked a base hit short, followed by coming in on Matt Foley's (Seekonk, Mass.) RBI double that went through the left side and found its way to the fence.

The Anchormen added three more runs in the six, when Kevin Carey (Wakefield, R.I.) and Dean Grasso (Cranston, R.I.) reached via one-out singles. Foley followed with a three-run shot to deep center to pull the Anchormen within three. Kevin Mann (West Warwick, R.I.) followed with an RBI single to score Alex Verrecchia (Cranston, R.I.), making it a 7-5 Hawk lead.

Rhode Island College completed the comeback with in the seventh, when Foley knocked a one-out, two-RBI double to left field to tie the game at seven apiece. Verrecchia gave the Anchormen the lead with an RBI single just past first base to put the team up 8-7.

The Anchormen tacked on two more runs in the eighth on Carey's two-RBI double, putting RIC up 10-7. The Hawks managed to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, but RIC was able to escape the inning with a fly ball to left.

Kyle Florio (Plantsville, Conn.) came on in the ninth for the save, but got in trouble quickly, as Nelson, pinch hitter Joe Hock (Braintree, Mass.), and Travers led off the inning with singles to load the bases. Pinch hitter Kevin Baker (Wilbraham, Mass.) helped close the gap with a sac fly to center, scoring Nelson and bringing RWU within two. Trevor Larson (Northbridge, Mass.) came up next and launched a deep shot to center that just missed going over the fence, allowing Hock and Travers to score and putting himself on third.

Jaime Timothy (Cohasset, Mass.) came up next for RWU and hit a chopper down to third. Justin Costa (Cranston, R.I.) came up firing to home, but Larson was able to slide around the tag and give RWU the win.

Tyler Pogmore (Lebanon, Conn.) pitched a scoreless ninth for his second win of the season. Keith Chamberlain (Columbia, Conn.) started the contest, allowing five runs in 5.2 innings. Travers finished 3-for-5 in the game with a run and an RBI, while Nelson went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

Florio took the loss, giving up all four runs in 0.1 innings. Starter Stephen Lapatin (Cranston, R.I.) lasted only two innings, giving up six runs on eight hits. Foley had a monster game for the Anchormen, going 4-for-5 on three doubles and a homer with six RBI and two runs scored. Carey finished 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.

Roger Williams (17-11) hosts Eastern Nazarene on Saturday, while Rhode Island College (6-19) travels to the University of Southern Maine on Saturday as well.

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