BRISTOL, R.I. – The overcast skies were not the only gloomy sight at Paolino Field, as eight walks and a pair of errors came back to haunt the Roger Williams University Baseball team and they were handed a disappointing defeat by Curry College, 10-7 on Tuesday afternoon. The frustrated Hawks stranded 11 runners on base including eight in scoring position as they could not get back on track.
 
RWU has now dropped five-straight games after loosing just three of the previous 29, and have seen themselves fall to 25-8-1, 9-4-1 in Commonwealth Coast Conference play and they are now mathematically locked into the third seed entering the conference playoffs as Salve Regina and Endicott have secured their spots as the top-two seeds. Curry, meanwhile, keeps pace with Wentworth in the fight for the final spot in the postseason and are 3-11 in CCC action and 13-21 overall.
 
Neither Tommy Marshall (Hanson, Mass.) nor Kyle Schaefer (Madison, Conn.) factored into the decision in the contest and even if they did, neither pitched long enough to qualify for the victory. The two starters combined to go eight innings allowing 11 runs, ten earned, on 12 hits and seven walks so instead, this one came down to the bullpens and each team employed different strategies. The Hawks utilized five different relievers the rest of the way and it was Nick Harper (Westwood, N.J.) who ended up getting tagged with the loss to fall to 0-1. Curry, meanwhile, utilized just two, the first was Colman Dyer (Sterling, Mass.) who, despite surrendering a lead, got picked up by his offense to get the win and improve to 2-2. After that, they went to Tommy's twin brother, Bobby Marshall (Hanson, Mass.) who proved to be the far more effective sibling throwing the final four innings and allowing just one run to earn his first career save.
 
Hawk Highlights
Christopher Flynn: 1-for-5, HR, 3 RBI, RS
Matt Massaro: 2-for-2, SB, 2 BB, RBI
Tommy Hobin: 2-for-4, 2B, SB, RS
Tyler Cedeno: 2-for-5, 3B, 2 RS
 
Kyle Schaefer: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 3 K
Nick Harper: (L, 0-1), 1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
 
For The Opponents
Eric Sennott: 3-for-4, 2B, BB, 4 RBI, RS
Jason Leonard: 3-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI, 3 RS
Brandon Polonco: 3-for-5, 2B, RBI, RS
Conor Hanlon: 1-for-3, 3 BB, 2 RS
 
Tommy Marshall: 3.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Colman Dyer: (W, 2-2), 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Bobby Marshall: (SV, 1), 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
 
How It Happened
Curry grabbed the advantage in the first against Kyle Schaefer (Madison, Conn.). Brett Heggs (Taunton, Mass.) leadoff by drawing a five-pitch walk, he advanced on a sacrifice bunt, and took third on an infield single. He trotted home on a sacrifice fly by Jared Keller (Oxford, Conn.) and just like that, the guests lead, 1-0.
 
While it took a couple of innings, Roger Williams offense would come alive beginning in the bottom of the third. With one out, Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) worked an outstanding at-bat after falling behind 1-2, and he battled all the way back before he finally got a pitch he liked on the 11^th offering of the plate appearance, blasting a triple off the base of the fence in dead center field. Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) followed by also catching a barrel, ripping a liner toward the gap in left center and while Heggs got a great jump on it an made a terrific catch on the move, Cedeno was able to tag up and tie the score at one.
 
London Camelo (Bristol, R.I.) leadoff the fourth by reaching base on a grounder to third that ate up Brandon Polonco (Brooklyn, N.Y.) who then compounded his problems by throwing it away and allowing Camelo to advance to second. Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.) bunted him to third and Mike Masino (Bayville, N.J.) brought him home by lining a single into left-center and the Hawks had the lead though they were not done. Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) dumped a single to left center then Christopher Flynn (Randolph, N.J.) got out of his home run drought by lifting a 2-1 pitch just over the fence in right for his fourth longball of the season.
 
Schafer could not get the shutdown inning that RWU wanted in the fifth, however, as the Colonels battled back. The Hawks senior got the first out no problem but then he issued a pair of walks and a jam-shot single down the right field line. The first run scored in a passed ball then Polonco and Eric Sennot (Odessa, Fla.) torched back-to-back doubles down the right and left field lines respectively to tie the game at five and chase Schaefer. Nick Harper (Westwood, N.J.) entered in relief and did allow the inherited run to score as the visitors took the lead, 6-5.
 
The Hawks got even in the home half as Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.) singled back through the box, Camelo bunted him up 90 feet. Hobin ripped a line drive double to right that just evaded the reach of Sennott on the dive to score Morin and tie the score, but the Curry offense would go back to work in the sixth.
 
Like the fifth, RWU got the first out as Harper induced a pop up but then he issued a free pass to put a runner on base. Keller followed and he hit it on the screws, but it was a tailor-made double play ball until it took a wicked hop and Massaro could not handle it. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch then Leonard ripped a single back through the middle to score a pair. Roger Williams made a change on the mound as Brett Lauterbach (Fairfield, Conn.) came in. The Colonels greeted him with back-to-back singles, the second of which was hit by Sennott and plated a run. A walk loaded the bases, and the inning had a chance to really get out of hand on the Hawks, especially as Garrett Fosher (Exeter, N.H.) scalded a liner to left. Flynn came straight in and laid out to snare it as Polonco tried to tag. The left fielder hopped up and uncorked a perfect throw home, to cut down the runner at the plate and hold the deficit at three.
 
Unfortunately for Roger Williams, they would get no closer. The two squads traded singular runs on a run-scoring singles by Sennott and Morin in the eighth but that was all as the Hawks left the bases loaded in that frame and then had the tying run on deck after Hobin singled to start the ninth, but the next three batters struck out to end the ballgame with a 10-7 defeat.
 
What's Next
Roger Williams has another chance to get back on track for their home finale on Thursday at Paolino Field when they host UMass-Dartmouth at 3:30 PM.