April 24, 2005
Box Score
KINGSTON, R.I. - Junior Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.) beat out an infield single with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the University of Rhode Island baseball team a 6-5 win over St. Bonaventure to sweep the three-game Atlantic 10 series.
The defending Atlantic 10 regular-season champion Rams have won 12-straight conference series and 12 of their last 13 games to improve to 20-15 overall. Rhody improved to 12-3 in the Atlantic 10 and sits in first place in the Atlantic 10 East Division, two games ahead of Fordham.
The Rams won the first two games of the series by scores of 14-4 and 9-0 over the defending Atlantic 10 champion Bonnies, who defeated Rhody in the finals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament last spring. Rhode Island trailed 5-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning of the third game, but the Rams didn't quit, scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game and then the game-winning run in the ninth.
We never gave up thinking that we were going to win the ball game," Rhode Island head coach Frank Leoni said. "Even when we were down two runs in the eighth, we hung tough and it's amazing how we found a way to win."
Senior Mike Rainville (Pawtucket, R.I.) came through with a clutch two-out RBI-single to tie the game in the eighth inning.
"The biggest thing for me was a guy like Mike Rainville having a difficult time as of late and he comes through with what I thought was the hit that won the game for us," Leoni said.
Rhode Island senior Matt Sullivan had the big hit in the ninth, connecting on a one-out triple off St. Bonaventure closer Brian Pellegrini. The Bonnies elected to intentionally walk sophomores Scott Brown (Portland, Maine) and Ryan Cunningham (Centreville, Va.) to load the bases and set-up a potential inning-ending double play. Pellegrini instead got a strikeout for the second out of the inning, but then Russo hit a dribbler down the third base line and slid head first into first base to beat the throw.
Senior closer Mick Lefort (Lincoln, R.I.) came on with the score tied at 5-5 and pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his first win of the season.
Sullivan finished the game 3-for-4, including the clutch triple that led to the winning run. Russo finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs, including the game winner. Cunningham hit a three run homer and finished the game with two hits. Junior Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.) also had two hits for the Rams.
In a year when Rhody players have twice broken the mark for longest hitting streaks, Brown has a 12-game streak after recording two hits in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader and one hit in the second game. Sullivan broke the school-record with a 17-game hitting streak, but only held the record for nine days before Cunningham hit safely in 18 games.
St. Bonaventure broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third inning when Damian Blakeley led off with a single and T.J. Pennino followed with a two-run homer to right field. The Rams answered right back in the bottom of the inning, when sophomore Dave Savard (Nashua, N.H.) drew a walk, Sullivan singled and Cunningham hit a three-run homer to right field. The home run was Cunningham's second of the series and seventh on the season, which tied him with Sullivan for the team lead.
The Rams held their 3-2 lead until the top of the seventh inning, when the Bonnies got the first two runners on by way of errors. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third with out out, Jake New tripled to right field to drive in two and give St. Bonaventure a 4-3 edge. Pellegini hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored New for a 5-3 lead, but junior set-up man Tom Venedam (Suffern, N.Y.) came on to pitch 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Venedam has not allowed a run in his last five outings, covering eight innings during which he has allowed only three hits and two walks, while striking out eight.
"Tom Venedam came on in a tough spot and shut them down," Leoni said. "He has been doing a great job for us, bridging the gap to get to Mick."
Rhode Island tied the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth. Brown led off the inning with a single to right to extend his hitting streak to 12 games and Nestor doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. Russo hit a pop-up to shallow right that plated Brown on a sac fly and Holcomb then grounded back to the pitcher and St. Bonaventure got Nestor out trying for third, but Holcomb alertly advanced to second and with two outs, senior Rainville singled up the middle to tie the game.
Rhode Island returns to action on Wednesday when the Rams travel to Boston to take on Northeastern at 3:00 p.m.
