Box Score BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Baseball team completed its three-game homestand Thursday afternoon against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, falling to the Corsairs 12-13 in eight innings.
After a 1-2-3 inning for both sides in the first, UMass-Dartmouth tallied the first run of the game in the top of the second. Jose Vasquez (Roxbury, Mass.) reached second as the lead-off batter off of a dropped ball in the outfield. Chris Wood (Berkley, Mass.) came up to bat next and brought him home with an RBI single. Wood would later score on an infield base hit by Mike Knell (Dennis, Mass.) to make it 2-0 Corsairs. Josh O'Neill (Halifax, Mass.) followed with a base hit just past the diving shortstop to extend the lead to three.
In the third, the Hawks made an effort to get back in the game. Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) and Tyler Rondeau (Bourne, Mass.) notched back-to-back seeing-eye singles to begin the bottom of the inning. Danny Roth (West Roxbury, Mass.) would load the bases with only one out after a mishandled ball at second trying to turn the double play. Unfortunately all three runners would be stranded on base, a strikeout and a line-out to right ended the potential rally.
RWU made another go of it in the bottom of the fifth. This time Jackson and Rondeau got on via lead-off walks instead of singles. After Roth loaded the bases, Jackson came home on a fielder's choice to second, followed by Rondeau coming home on a passed ball. Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) had the clutch hit in the inning for RWU, giving the Hawks the lead with a two-RBI single just past the shortstop. Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) added to the lead with a two-RBI double that just dropped into the right field line. In one inning, Roger Williams turned a 3-0 deficit into a 6-3 lead.
RWU's three run lead would not last through the following inning. The first three Corsair batters reached base, putting pressure on the RWU defense. UMD pinch hitter Zach Courier (Mansfield, Mass.) hit a shallow fly to center that was dropped, allowing Vasquez to score. Knell hit a sac fly to right to pull the Corsairs within one. O'Neil would notch the game-tying hit, getting an infield hit to bring home Kenny Michael (Norwood, Mass.). Mitch Baker (Braintree, Mass.) had the go-ahead hit to score Michael, while O'Neil added another run off of a ball thrown into center on an attempted steal. UMass-Dartmouth would make it 9-6 in the following inning when Vasquez scored on a sac fly by Courier.
The Hawks were able to bring the deficit back to two in the seventh. Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) drew a lead-off walk and eventually scored on a ground out to second by Jackson. However, UMD responded with four runs in the top of the eighth inning, including a successful double steal at home by Nate Tellier (Attleboro, Mass.)
Roger Williams would not quit, making one last push in the bottom of the eighth. Jenkins knocked an RBI single, followed by a two-RBI single from Gulino. Jackson would later bring Roger Williams within one with a two-RBI base hit of his own. However, the Corsairs got out of the inning with a strikeout with the tying run on base. The umpires would then call the game after eight due to darkness.
Zack DelVecchio (Braintree, Mass.) picked up the relief win, pitching 2.0 innings and giving up three runs with five strikeouts. Vasquez was 4-for-5 with four runs scored and O'Neil went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI.
Brett Gauvin suffered the loss, allowing two runs in 0.1 innings. Gulino went 3-for-3 with three runs and two RBI, with Jackson finishing 2-for-4 and a run and three RBI.
Roger Williams (10-13) heads to Wentworth on Saturday. UMass-Dartmouth (13-8) hosts Johnson & Wales tomorrow.
