DAVENPORT, Fla. – The Roger Williams University Baseball team started their 2026 season hot on the offensive end, hitting five home runs, on their way to a 14-10 win over Grove City to start their season at Northeast Regional Park for the RussMatt Invitational.
Will Florio (San Jose, Calif.) went 4-for-5 at the plate, including a homerun and a sacrifice fly, tallying five RBIs on the day, while Noah Hester (Old Saybrook, Conn.) had a double with a 3-for-6 line, while driving in one and coming around to score. Jack Tubman (Bellingham, Mass.) and Rory Lynch (Easton, Conn.) each recorded a pair of hits, including a triple for Lynch, while the Hawks saw deep shots from Florio, Tubman, Nick Dimaso (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.), and Riley Carew (Simsbury, Conn.).
On the mound, Casey DeLorenzo (East Greenwich, R.I.) got the start, throwing 3.1 innings while allowing three earned runs with four strikeouts in 72 pitches. Matthew Donovan (Stoneham, Mass.) picked up the win, throwing 1.2 innings with one walk, a hit allowed, and a pair of strikeouts.
For the Wolverines, the offense was led by Nick Remish and Johnny Reyes who each had three hits, with Remish also drawing a pair of walks while going 3-for-4, with a home run. Grove City had six extra base hits, while Denny Lavrich moved to 0-1 on the year, with 4.0 innings of work with eight earned runs on 10 hits, with four strikeouts. Wyatt Hopson pitched 3.0 innings while allowing five runs, three earned, with a pair of strikeouts and four walks.
The Hawks were the first to strike, after Hester singled to left field, Tubman then hit a home run over the right field wall to put the Hawks up 2-0. In the top half of the second inning the Hawks were able to tack on another run, as Sam Arcieri (Westwood, N.J.) drew a leadoff walk, before Lynch hit a triple to deep center field.
Grove City got the run back in the bottom of the inning, taking advantage of a pair of errors by the Hawks, as Caleb Backos hit a ball over to third that was mishandled, bringing in Reyes. The Wolverines then leveled the score in the bottom of the third inning, with Remish hitting a leadoff home run, before Adam Weber brought in Kallen Durbin from second on a single to center field.
The Hawks then retook the lead in the top half of the fourth inning, after Arcieri hit a lead off single, Dimaso then hit a ball over the left field wall to bring in two. Carew then went back-to-back hitting his homerun over the left field fence as well.
A Reyes double to center field in the bottom half of the fourth, put the score at 6-4, ahead of Florio hitting a two run shot to center field, bringing in Tubman. Leading 8-6 heading into the top half of the sixth, Florio brought in another run, hitting a single to left field that allowed Luke Miele (Wellesley, Mass.) to come in from second.
In the top half of the seventh, the Hawks added another pair of runs, while striking two more times in the eighth and once in the ninth, while Grove City added three runs in the eighth and ninth innings, but were unable to come back for the win.
Roger Williams (1-0, 0-0 CNE) will take on Dominican (Ill.) for a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon, beginning at 12:45 pm at Northeast Regional Park. The Hawks will then be off on Sunday ahead of a Monday, Mar. 9 tilt with Drew at Northeast Regional Park.
