Box Score BRISTOL, R.I. – In the second day of the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament, the second-seeded Roger Williams University Baseball fell to the #6 seed Gordon College by a 7-3 margin on Sunday afternoon.
Gordon got off to a quick start by getting a run on the board in the first inning. Leading off for the Fighting Scots was Chris Leavitt (East Bridgewater, Mass.) who walked to first. Then Roger Williams overthrew an attempted pick off at first, which advanced Leavitt all the way to third. John Lagerfeldt (Stratford, Conn.) brought Leavitt in for a Gordon run.
The Fighting Scots continued to grow their lead in the second inning when Erik Gauer (Wayland, N.Y.) came up to bat with runners on first and second. Gauer singled through the right side, bringing Matt Moffat (Stratford, Conn.) home and advancing Travis Benoit (Worcester, Mass.) to second base. Joseph Mack (East Longmeadow, Mass.) was next up for Gordon and he hit a come-backer right at Roger Williams starting pitcher Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.). The Hawks were forced to relieve Garcia with Matt Vernacatola (Berlin, Conn.) with the bases loaded and nobody out. Leavitt was back up for the Scots and hit a two run RBI single up the middle to close out a successful inning with the Scots leading 4-0.
Roger Williams missed an opportunity in the third inning to get some runs on the board. With Chris Bosco (North Andover, Mass.) on first, Anthony Dominguez (Chester, N.J.) singled up the middle to advance Bosco. Shane Nowak (Litchfield, N.H.) moved the runners again as he grounded out to the second baseman. However, with runners on second and third and two outs, a ground out to first ended the inning.
In the top of the fourth, Gordon tacked another run onto the board. To lead off the inning, Mack walked to first and Leavitt advanced him to third by finding the gap up the middle. With runners on first and third, Lagerfeldt grounded into a double play but Mack was still able to score.
The Hawks put a run on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Dean DePreta (Stamford, Conn.) led off reached second on a dropped fly ball by the shortstop. He was then moved to third due to a sacrifice bunt by Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.). With Bryan Goodwin (Belmont, Mass.) up to bat, the Fighting Scots threw a wild pitch and DePreta lost his footing and almost didn't run home. However, the catcher made a throwing error to the pitcher in an attempt to get the ball back in his glove, and DePreta took full advantage of the situation and scored the run making the score 5-1.
Jimmy Smith (Walpole, Mass.) relieved Vernacatola to start the fifth inning, but the pitching change didn't seem to faze Gordon as they refused to let up. Addison Tarr (Oxnard, Calif.) walked to first and then Moffat singled down the left field line with a bunt and then moving to second off a throwing error. With runners on second and third and no outs, Benoit hit a sac fly to left field to bring in Tarr. The Scots scored again when Mack reached first on another error, shortstop brining Moffat home. To finish the inning, Dominguez made a great catch at second to get the third out.
After a series of quick innings for both teams, the Hawks scored their final runs of the game in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings. With Bosco and Dominguez on first and third with one out, Nowack came up to bat and ripped one to left field to bring Bosco home, making the score 7-2. In the ninth inning, Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) hit a bomb over the center field fence for a home run. However Gordon was able to hold on and finish the game 7-3.
Derek Hudson got the complete game win for Gordon, allowing three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts. Leavitt was 3-for-4 on the day with two RBIs and a run scored.
Garcia took the loss for Roger Williams, giving up four runs (three earned) in 1.0 inning. Roth went 2-for-4 with a homerun and an RBI.
Gordon (18-17) will advance to the semifinal game tomorrow at Western New England. Roger Williams will conclude its season at 19-21 overall.
