DUDLEY, MASS. – The Roger Williams University baseball team fell to Nichols College 3-1 in the first game of their double header. The loss moves the Hawks to 7-10 overall and 1-3 in Conference of New England play.
In the matchup,
Lucas Lariviere took the loss, while Bison hurler John Steed secured his fourth win in the early season. Lariviere pitched eight innings, surrendering three runs (two earned) allowing just two hits in the process. Steed punched out eight for the Bison, allowing just one earned run in the win. He pitched 7.1 innings, before Ashton Moniz-Witten took over to secure the 1.2 inning save.
For the Hawks,
Will Florio and
Nick Sheehan led the offense with two hits apiece in the loss.
Braden Ventura recorded the Hawks only extra base hit, with the rest of the team being held hitless. For the Bison, just two hits were all they needed to secure the victory. It was Ben Jerome and Karl Miller who provided the hits.
Nichols would draw first blood in the bottom of the second, with Karl Miller leading the inning off with a double down the right field line. Two more groundouts would allow the runner to score giving the Bison a 1-0 lead.
Both teams would go scoreless until the top of the 7
th, when
Will Florio would provide a one-out single down the right field line. Following a strikeout, Ventura would get hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Sheehan would knock a single up the middle to bring home Florio and knot things up at 1-1.
The tied matchup would not last long as Nichols would push two runners across home plate via a fielder's choice, followed by a passed ball, giving the Bison a 3-1 lead.
They would hold onto the victory behind a Moniz-Witten save, which would go down as his first of the season.
The two teams would match up directly following the game, for the second game of the double header. The Hawks will look to even up the series in the battle.
