BRISTOL, R.I. – The bats for the Roger Williams University Baseball team went silent as Endicott College came to Paolino Field and made a statement by grabbing a doubleheader sweep on Saturday afternoon. RWU led for 26 outs in game one but then the visitors struck for three in the ninth to win 3-2 before holding the hosts to just one hit in the second game to win 6-1.
 
With the losses, Roger Williams drops to 17-3-1 on the year and now drop behind both Endicott and Salve Regina in the conference standings at 4-2-1. The Gulls on the other hand pick up two huge conference and regional wins to improve to 17-5 including 5-0 in CCC play.
 
Despite both starting pitchers throwing very well in game one, neither Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.) or Rian Schwede (Whitman, Mass.) would factor into the decision. Both went seven full innings. Schwede got tagged for a pair of solo home runs but that was the only scoring he surrendered as he only allowed four total hits and one walk while striking out seven. Garcia outdueled him going seven shutout innings allowing just two hits and two walks while fanning a dozen. Instead, it came down to the bullpens as Nicholas Cannata (Marlborough, Conn.) went 1.1 innings to get the win for the Gulls, improving to 3-0, while Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.) took the loss to fall to 0-1. Max Tarlin (Sharon, Mass.) got the final two outs to finish his fifth save.
 
In game two, Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.) allowed five runs, four earned, on four hits and two walks across 5.1 innings while striking out seven to take the loss and fall to 4-1. Cannata started the second contest for the guests but yielded to Gabe Van Emon (Lexington, Mass.) after four innings of one-run baseball, and therefore he did not qualify for the win. The victory instead was credited to Van Emon who allowed just a single walk across five innings of work to improve to 3-0.
 
Hawk Highlights
Game 1
Brandon Jenkins: 3-for-4, 2B, HR, RBI, RS
Ben Bonavita: 1-for-4, HR, RBI, RS
Christopher Flynn: 1-for-2, SB, BB
 
Justin Garcia: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 12 K
Adam Harz: (L, 0-1) 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
 
For The Opponents
Caleb Shpur: 3-for-4, SB, BB, 3 RBI
Nicholas Notarangelo: 1-for-4, BB, RBI
Matthew McKinley: 0-for-3, BB, RS
 
Rian Schwede: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Nicholas Cannata: (W, 3-0), 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Max Tarlin: (SV, 5), 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
 
How It Happened
Game one was a pitchers dual flying along in a mere two hours and 20 minutes as Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.) and Rian Schwede (Whitman, Mass.) largely traded zeros on the scoreboard across seven very good frames.
 
Schwede scattered four hits and one walk but found himself pitching from behind the entire way due to a couple of longballs. In the first inning, Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) tattooed a 1-1 offering over the fence in right-center field for his second homer in as many games and fourth of the spring. Later, in the seventh, Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) matched those totals hitting a cloud-scraping homer to the opposite-field on a 1-0 offering.
 
All the while, Garcia was doing his thing scattering two hits and two walks. Endicott's best scoring opportunity against the southpaw came in the seventh when back-to-back runners reached on a hit by pitch and an error followed by a fielders choice to put runners on the corners. However, Matthew McKinley (Husdson, N.H.) would flyout to end the threat.
 
This one would end up in the hands of the bullpens. Justin Fraleigh (Rocky Hill, N.Y.) walked a man but retired two men in the eighth for Roger Williams before Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.) entered to complete the inning. Harz would encounter trouble in the ninth, however. He walked the leadoff man, Robbie Wladowski (Norwood, Mass.) who was promptly pinch run for by J.P. Catellier (Springfield, Mass.). A flyout and a groundout would ensue putting the Hawks on the verge of a victory, but the Gulls made good use of that 27^th out. McKinley drew a walk then Joseph Millar (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) got plunked to load the bases for Caleb Shpur (East Canaan, Conn.) who had two of the Gulls three hits to that point, and sure enough, he would add a third singling into right field to plate two runners and tie the game at two. Nicholas Notagangelo (Taunton, Mass.) followed with a run-scoring single of his own and in a matter of moments the tide had turned.
 
Jenkins would get a jam-job double in the ninth, but nothing came of it and the Hawks were handed their first conference defeat of the season, 3-2.
 
Game 2
London Camelo: 1-for-3, RS
Tyler Cedeno: 0-for-3, BB
Christopher Flynn: 0-for-2, BB
 
Chris Flynn: (L, 4-1), 5.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
 
For The Opponents
Kyle Grabowski: 3-for-3, 2B, SB, 2 RS
Dylan Pacheco: 1-for-4, HR, RBI, RS
Joseph Millar: 1-for-3, 3B, 2 BB, RBI, RS
 
Nicholas Cannata: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Gabe Van Emon: (W, 3-0), 5.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
 
How It Happened
After the deflating game one loss, Roger Williams simply was not the same team in game two. After an uneventful first two innings, Endicott broke through in the third. Kyle Grabowski (Westfield, Mass.) hit a leadoff two-bagger, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt, then scored on a wild pitch and just like that, the guests had the advantage, 1-0.
 
The offense did respond in the bottom half. London Camelo (Bristol, R.I.) singled to open the frame then was advanced with a sacrifice bunt by Mike Masino (Bayville, N.J.). Owen Hibbard (Roxbury, Conn.) followed by reaching on an error to put runners on the corners before Nicholas Cannata (Marlborough, Conn.) balked to plate the run and tie the score.
 
The Gulls claimed the lead for good in the fifth. Dylan Pacheco (Dartmouth, Mass.) leadoff the inning by connecting on his sixth home run of the spring on an 0-1 pitch to make the score 2-1 in favor of the guests, but they were not done. Grabowski got drilled, swiped second and came home on a triple down the rightfield line by Joseph Millar (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.). He later scored on a wild pitch and the lead was out to three runs.
 
 
The Hawks would never respond, in fact, they had trouble mustering baserunners against Cannata and Gabe Van Emon (Lexington, Mass.) as only four men reached safely, two by a walk, one with a hit, and one by way of a hit by pitch. Meanwhile, Endicott added single runs in the sixth and seventh innings. They got one in the sixth via a run scoring on an E5 then their sixth and final run came across the plate in the seventh with a sacrifice fly and in the end, the Gulls handed RWU the 6-1 defeat.
 
Coach's Corner
Garcia pitched extremely well today overpowering most of their hitters. He gave us a great opportunity to win the game but unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side.
 
Offensively we just could not get much going. We did not really string multiple hits together and just never really had baserunners. Besides Jenkins going 3-4 with a home run. No one else had multiple hits. Two swings of the bat got us our runs. Normally we are all over the basepaths and pressuring defenses! Today it was Jenkins' and Bonavita's home runs that got us our two runs.
 
It is always tough to lose the way we did in the top of the ninth, but we can learn from it and get better.
 
Chris Flynn pitched well but we just did not play well behind him and gave them to many extra outs and soft 90's.
 
Offensively it was the same story as game one minus the two big swings. We only had one hit which is very unlike us. We will be alright moving forward offensively just need to get back to our approach.
 
What really struck me is that it kind of felt like we took the game one loss into the game two loss never results in a good outcome. We need to do a better job of moving on and staying in the present moment rather than dwelling on the past. We will learn from these two losses and make adjustments during the week.
 
What's Next
Roger Williams suddenly finds themselves in a difficult spot in the conference standings and they will look for their first CCC win in their last four tries when they travel to Milton, Massachusetts to play Curry College on Tuesday evening. First pitch is set for 3:00 PM.