PROVIDENCE, R.I.- Playing their fifth game in three days, the Roger Williams University Baseball team could not hang on against Rhode Island College on Monday afternoon at Pontarelli Field. RIC catcher, Alex Martinez's (Cranston, R.I.) pop up down the right field line fell in just out of the reach of Hawks right fielder Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) as the winning run crossed the plate from first base for the Anchormen.
 
Hawk Highlights
Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.): 1-for-4, HR, RS, 3 RBI
Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.): 1-for-3, BB, 2 RS, RBI
Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.): 1-for-4, 3B, 1 RS
Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.): 6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.): (L, 0-1), 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
 
For The Opponents
Ray Zincone (West Warwick, R.I.): 2-for-5, 2B, RS, RBI
Alex Martinez (Cranston, R.I.): 2-for-5, 2B, RS, RBI
Seth Daly (Riverside, R.I.): 7.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Shaun Gamelin (West Kingston, R.I.): (W, 1-0), 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
 
How It Happened
The Hawks got right to work in the first. Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) ripped a leadoff triple and came home on a single by Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.). Two batters later, Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) crushed a two-run shot for his first home run of the season to left-center field and just four batters in, RWU was in front 3-0.
 
The Anchormen got on the board in the bottom of the second after a trio of singles to start the inning. Roger Williams starter Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) got a strikeout and had a chance to get out of the inning when he induced a potential double play ground ball to short that snuck under the glove of Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.) and a pair of runs scored on the play. Bonavita escaped further damage in the inning but the lead was cut to 3-2.
 
From there both pitchers settled into a grove. Bonavita retired 12 of the next 14 men he faced while 18 of the 20 Hawks that came to bat from the second inning through the seventh were set down by RIC starter Seth Daly (Riverside, R.I.).
 
The Anchormen tied the game in the seventh as the first two men reached on a walk and a hit batsman. Once again, Bonavita started to turn the corner by picking up a strikeout but once again the Hawks botched a grounder, this time to Roth, that allowed the tying run to score. That batter also ended Bonavita's afternoon on the mound as Nick Harper (Westwood, N.J.) entered the game and got out of the seventh.
 
Roger Williams took the lead again in the eighth. With two down, Cedeno drew a walk before Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) singled to put runners on the corners prompting a pitching change as reliever Shaun Gamelin (West Kingston, R.I.) came on for the Anchormen. Roth then hit a grounder into the shortstop hole that was knocked down by RIC shortstop John Willette (Johnston, R.I.), he tried to get Jenkins at second but everyone was safe on the play including Cedeno who scored to make it 4-3 Hawks.
 
RIC threatened and got a runner on third with two outs in the home half but Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.) came in and escaped the jam.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, Cameron Santerre (Bristol, R.I.) led off with a single and stole second against Harz. After a strikeout for the first out, Santerre advanced to third on a sacrifice fly. He scored on a single by Ray Zincone (West Warwick, R.I.) to tie the game. This set up Alex Martinez (Cranston, R.I.) who dropped one in down the right field line scoring the winning run.
 
Both starters were strong in their first outings of the season but neither factored into the decision. Bonavita worked the first 6.1 innings allowing three runs, only two earned while striking out five. Meanwhile, Daley allowed four runs, all earned over 7.2 innings. Gamelin got the win for the Anchormen while Harz took the loss.
 
Coach's Corner
Tough loss today. However, we learned a lot about our team today. There is a ton of mental toughness on this team and I am proud of the five-game stretch we just had against quality teams.  Ben Bonavita pitched fantastic today and Nick Harper and Adam Harz pitched great in relief. A goal we set out for this five-game stretch was to figure out our bullpen so that going into this coming weekend when we start conference play, we would know how to attack. We accomplished that. Offensively bats were hot early with Danny Roth hitting his first home in of the season.  Key factor of this game and loss was our defense!  We need to be better on defense plain and simple.
 
What's Next
Hawks will look to get back on track as they open conference play on Saturday when they visit Nichols for a double-header. First pitch of game one is set for 11:30 AM.