MILTON, Mass.- Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) each launched home runs while Chris Crawford (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) and a platoon of relievers shutdown Curry College on their way to a 5-1 win on Wednesday afternoon at the Jack Vallely Diamond in Milton, Massechussetts.
 
With the nonconference win, the Hawks wrap up their season series against the Colonels and have won four straight and seven of their last eight games to improve to 11-4 overall. This also marks their best start since 2014 when they began the season 14-4.
 
Hawk Highlights
Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.): 1-for-2, HR, 2 RBI, RS
Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.): 2-for-4, HR, RBI, RS
Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.): 1-for-2, 2B, RBI
 
Chris Crawford (Putnam Valley, N.Y.): (W, 2-0), 4.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.): 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
 
For The Opponents
Riley Cronin (East Providence, R.I.): 1-for-1, BB, RBI
 
Zach McCarthy (Plympton, Mass.): (L, 0-1), 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
 
How It Happened
The Hawks offense wasted little time getting on the board against Curry starter Zach McCarthy (Plympton, Mass.). Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) drew a lead off walk, moved up to second on a balk, and advanced to third on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.). That set the stage for Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) who took a 1-0 pitch and crushed it over the right field fence for his fourth home run of the season to give RWU a 2-0 lead.
 
As it would turn out, the two runs would be all Roger Williams would need in the game, but they got right back to work in the second anyways. With two outs, Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) and Gulino drew consecutive walks ahead of Cedeno. He proceeded to hit a grounder to third that got under the glove of Jared Keller (Oxford, Conn.) and rolled down the left field line. Jackson scored from second on the play to extend the lead to three.
 
The Colonels got plenty of traffic on the basepaths across the first four innings by way of four hits and three walks against RWU starter Chris Crawford (Putnam Valley, N.Y.). However, they did not break through until the fifth against reliever Nick Harper (Westwood, N.J.). Harper issued a pair of free passes to start the inning before Keller dropped down a bunt that he beat out for a single to load the bases. Harper picked up a strikeout before Conor Hanlon (Beverly, Mass.) dumped a single into shallow left field to score a run. This prompted a pitching change as the Hawks turned to Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.) with he bases still full of Colonels. Harz induced a soft comebacker that he managed to snare and despite spiking the throw home, George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) blocked it and lunged to grab the loose ball to get the force out at the plate and prevent the run. Harz proceeded to strike out the next batter to escape the jam and maintain a 3-1 lead.
 
RWU got insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings. First in the seventh, Gulino got hit by a pitch with one out and stole second before JoJo Ortiz (Providence, R.I.) drew a walk to put two runners on with two outs. That is when pinch hitter Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.) ripped a double that one-hopped off the wall in left center to score Gulino. Then in the eighth, Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) took a 3-1 pitch and deposited it over the left centerfield fence for his fourth long ball of the season.
 
Meanwhile, the Hawks bullpen was stifling the Curry offense as the combination of Harz, Ryan McGahern (Attleboro, Mass.), Conor Gaughan (Walpole, Mass.), and Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.) combined to allow only one baserunner while piling up six strikeouts across the final four innings.
 
Crawford was effective across for the first four innings and was credited with the victory to improve to 2-0 on the season. The loss went to McCarthy who threw the first inning allowing two runs on two hits and a walk.
 
Coach's Corner
Chris Crawford had a bounce back start for us and gave us four great innings. The bullpen took it from there giving us five strong innings!  Offensively, Brandon Jenkins continued to stay hot by hitting a two-run home run in the first and we never looked back. Ben Bonavita and Jack Morin were the two other key contributors in our win today. This was another good team win for us. We are playing well going into the biggest part of our season this weekend.
 
What's Next
The Hawks hit the road one more time as they venture up to Springfield, Massachusetts on Saturday for a doubleheader against Western New England. First pitch of game one is scheduled for noon.