Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Baseball team squared off against Nichols College Sunday afternoon, dropping a 3-7 contest before taking the second 2-1 in a marathon 14-inning game.
 
The Hawks jumped out to an early lead in the opener. Chris Bosco (North Andover, Mass.) led off RWU's at-bat with a walk. Two batters later, Justin Stone (Blackstone, Mass.) reached on a misplayed ball at short, allowing Bosco to come home. In the following inning, Anthony Dominguez (Chester, N.J.) came home on an RBI groundout by Bryan Goodwin, giving RWU the 2-0 lead.
 
Nichols would get both of the runs back in the top of the third. Nathaniel Cormier (Sandisfield, Mass.) and Nick Roy (Middletown, Conn.) both reached base for the Bison when Cam Cook (Phoenixville, Pa.) knocked a double to center to bring both of them home and tie the game.
 
Cormier would put Nichols on top 4-3 in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly to bring home Kyle Bouchard (Fall River, Mass.). Yet the Hawks tied the game back up in the bottom half of the inning. Bosco hit an RBI double to center to score Eddy Jackson and knot the game at four.
 
The turning point came in the top of the sixth when Shay Souza (Mashpee, Mass.) regained the lead for Nichols with a two-out, three-run home run putting the Bison up 6-3. They would add one more in the seventh on a sac fly from Christian Naccari (Ossining, N.Y.). The Hawks could not run into the deficit in the bottom of the inning as Nichols held on.
 
Jimmy Smith (Walpole, Mass.) took the loss, giving up six runs (five earned) in 5.2 innings while striking out a season-high ten. Shane Nowak (Litchfield, N.H.) had a pair of hits for RWU with Bosco going 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI.
 
Brodie Altiere (North Adams, Mass.) earned the relief win, pitching two innings of one-run ball. Cormier was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI with Cook adding two hits as well.
 
The second game was an old-fashioned pitchers' duel between RWU's Justin Garcia and Stigerik McElhinney (Dracut, Mass.). The two hurlers each allowed only one run throughout the first seven innings of play.
 
Stone gave Roger Williams an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, coming home off of a wild pitch on a third strike. Nichols finally managed to tie the game at one apiece in the top of the sixth on a one-out RBI single by Roy.
 
Despite those two blemishes, both pitchers held each other's offense in check. Garcia went nine innings, scattering seven hits with eight strikeouts. McElhinney went 7.2 innings, giving up three hits and three walks with seven Ks.
In extras, the Hawks had a golden opportunity to end the game in the bottom of the eighth. With runners at second and third, a misplayed ball in the dirt on a third strike allowed RWU to load the bases with two outs. Fortunately for the Bison, Matthew Stewart (Kinnelon, N.J.) was able to escape the jam by getting a swinging third strike to end the inning.
 
Neither team was able to push a run across the board over the next fifth innings of extra play. Nichols came close to getting the go-ahead run in the 14^th. The Bison had runners at the corners with only one out. Nichols tried to use a safety squeeze to get the runner home, but a great diving catch by Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) at first allowed him to double up the runner at first and give RWU a chance to win in the bottom of the inning.
 
With momentum on their side, Bosco notched a one-out single, then moved to third on a by Nowak just inside the first base line. Stone would follow up with a base hit to right to bring home Bosco and end the game.
 
Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.) picked up the win, pitching scoreless 1.2 innings. Bosco finished with three hits in the game, with Stone adding two hits as well.
 
Vincent Amaro (Brooklyn, N.Y.) gave up the winning run after going 1.1 innings. Naccardi, Cormier, and Alex Stroshine (Keene, N.H.) all had two hits.
 
Roger Williams (7-11, 1-1 CCC) takes on Eastern Nazarene College tomorrow. Nichols (7-15, 1-1 CCC) plays Framingham State on Thursday.