WENHAM, Mass. — In Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) baseball action today at Gordon's J. Tec White Field, the Roger Williams University Baseball team swept both games from the host Fighting Scots, 4-0, to improve to 12-11 overall, 4-2 in conference on the year. The results mark the first league defeats for the Scots, who drop to 12-7 overall, 3-2 in the CCC.
The Hawks got their offense going right out of the gate in game one of the twinbill as John Oppenheimer (Westport, Conn.) and Mike Pascarella (Milford, Conn.) crossed home off an error at third and Shawn Cariglio (Milford, Conn.) RBI singled to plate Reid Nelson (Wallingford, Conn.) on the next at bat to establish a 3-0 lead in the top of the opening frame.
That score remained until the top of the fourth when another Gordon fielding error left Mike Thomas (Plainville, Conn.) to come in from third and widen the gap to 4-0. And though the Scots were able to keep the Hawks' offense quiet, they struggled at the plate to gain back any ground, registering just one hit the rest of the way and leaving two stranded in the bottom of the sixth in the eventual four-run loss.
A.J. Bashaw (Norton, Mass.) earned the win for Roger Williams, pitching a complete game shutout with just two hits allowed. Jacob Syed (Niskayuna, N.Y.) took the loss on the mound for Gordon.
Game two played out similarly to the opener with Roger Williams jumping out to an early 2-0 lead behind an RBI ground out from Oppenheimer to score Pascarella and a Matt Jefferis (Cheshire, Conn.) RBI single to bring in Nelson in the top of the first.
The Scots looked in good position to inch closer in the bottom of the fourth after Eric Rinaldi (Torrington, Conn.) and Geoff Brown (East Moriches, N.Y.) reached on walks, but RWU hurler Dan Julian (Stratford, Conn.) and the Hawks' defense closed out the inning with consecutive outs to keep Gordon scoreless.
With two on in the bottom of the fifth after a Stephen Crawford (Haddon Heights, N.J.) single and Ben Davidson (Sterling, Mass.) walk, reliever Tony Trafecanty (Franklin, Mass.) got the Hawks out of a jam once again, forcing back-to-back pop outs from Brian Harrington (Shoreham, N.Y.) and Alex Potocki (New Fairfield, Conn.) to preserve his team's advantage.
Then in the top of the seventh, RWU's Oppenheimer and Jefferis struck again with an RBI ground out and RBI single, respectively, to secure the win.
Julian improved to 2-2 on the season with the win, while Gordon's Scott Hall (Weymouth, Mass.) absorbed the loss to move to 1-1 overall.
The Scots return to play on Monday, April 8 as they host the Colonels of Curry College at 4 p.m. Roger Williams hosts Curry tomorrow in a CCC doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.
- Release courtesy of the Gordon College Sports Information Department
