Box Score BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Baseball team took home the win late against cross-town rival, Johnson & Wales University, Thursday afternoon. The Hawks defeated the Wildcats 4-2.
Starting pitcher Tyler Brett (Hebron, Conn.) retired three out of the four Johnson & Wales batters to start the game. He kept the Wildcats scoreless for the first two innings.
Chris Bosco (North Andover, Mass.) had the only hit for the Hawks in the first inning. Bosco singled up the middle and then used his speed to steal second. He made it all the way around the bases and came home off of two separate wild pitches to score the first run of the game.
The Wildcats got on the board in the third inning when Steve Rocchio (Cranston, R.I.) walked to get on base and moved to second from a single through the left side from Rich Bourdeau (Pawtucket, R.I.). The runners both moved to second and third when Brett threw a wild pitch. Will Fritz (Clinton, Conn.) grounded out to the second baseman to bring Rocchio in for the run.
Johnson & Wales had a missed opportunity in the top of the sixth with Colby Greenhalgh (Plainfield, Conn.) on third base with two outs. Greenhalgh singled to third and was able to steal second. Later he advanced to third off of a failed pick off attempt at second when the pitcher overthrew the ball into the outfield. The next batter for the Cats, Kevin Duffy (Levittown, N.Y.), grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning.
After several quick and uneventful innings, Michael Farrell (Bellingham, Mass.) relieved Brett on the mound to start the seventh inning. After getting the first two JWU batters out, Farrell walked the next three to fill the bases. Farrell then threw a wild pitch to Nick Lloyd (Plymouth, Mass.) that advanced all the runners and brought Bourdeau home for the go-ahead run, to give the Wildcats the lead 2-1.
Roger Williams had one real opportunity in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game back up but failed to capitalize with two outs and the bases loaded. Johnson & Wales pitcher Rob Ballinger (South Kingstown, R.I.) walked two batters back to back and then hit the third batter by a pitch to fill all the bases. However, Shane Nowak (Litchfield, N.H.) grounded out to second and was out at first to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Roger Williams made things interesting when Bosco led off the inning by singling up the middle. Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) moved Bosco with a sacrifice bunt. Dean DePreta (Stamford, Conn.) moved Bosco again as he grounded out to second base. Finally, Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.), found the gap in between the left and center fielder to bring Bosco home. With Gulino now on second base, Johnson & Wales made a pitching change to retire Ballinger and replace him with Tom Doran (West Warwick, R.I.). Doran walked his first two batters to load up the bases. Bryan Goodwin (Belmont, Mass.) smacked the ball to the Wildcat second baseman to bring in two winning runs and put RWU up 4-2.
Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.) got the win for the Hawks and Matt Vernacatola (Berlin, Conn.) will get his first save on the year. Ballinger (0-1) will be recorded the loss for Johnson & Wales.
Roger Williams (18-15) will be back in action on Saturday as they go to Beverly, Mass. to play Endicott College in a CCC matchup. Johnson & Wales (20-16) will host Bridgewater State tomorrow.
