April 28, 2005
Box Score
KINGSTON, R.I. - The University of Rhode Island baseball team turned a showdown between two of the top five teams in New England into a rout with a 16-1 victory over Harvard on Thursday at Bill Beck Field.
Rhode Island (21-15) entered the game ranked No. 5 in New England and No. 7 in the Northeast Region, while Harvard (21-13) was ranked No. 4 in New England and No. 13 in the Northeast. The Crimson seemed primed for the showdown, scoring a run in the top of the first inning, but Rhode Island would score 16 unanswered as the Rams won for the 13th time in the 14 games.
Senior Matt Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.) went 4-for-5 with his team-leading eighth homer of the season, two RBIs and three runs scored to lead the Rams. Sullivan has six multi-hit games in the last seven contests, going 19-for-27 (.704) during that stretch. Sophomore Scott Brown (Portland, Maine) extended his hitting streak to 13 games, going 3-for-5 with a three-run home run, RBI-double and RBI-single to tie his career high of five RBIs.
Senior Joe Viscuso (Farmingdale, N.Y.) had two hits, drove in a run and scored three times. Sophomore Dave Savard (Nashua, N.H.) went 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Senior Mike Rainville (Pawtucket, R.I.) hit a monster home run in the third inning.
"Our hitters have done a great job for the last two or three weeks of approaching their at-bats with a good work ethic, and coming up with some really big two-strike hits," Rhode Island head coach Frank Leoni said. "Harvard didn't have their best pitchers today, but we just did what we needed to do to score runs. We put some pressure on them early, turned the wind around a couple of times, and got it done."
Almost lost in the 15-hit, 16-run attack was the pitching of Rhode Island sophomore
Adam Perkins (Hudson, N.H.), who earned the win, going six innings and allowing only four hits while striking out three. Perkins improved to 7-1 on the season and is now just one win shy of tying teammate
Zack Zuercher (Warwick, R.I.) and former Ram
Pete Kehoe for the most wins in a season. Perkins, who threw a no-hitter two weeks ago against Iona, has a 2.77 earned run average, which is lowest among Rhody starting pitchers.
Sophomore James Norcott (Norton, Mass.) came on in seventh inning and pitched three innings of scoreless relief, allowing just one hit.
"I thought Perkins and Norcott did a magnificent job of pitching, but their performance's were lost in the shuffle with all of the offense," Leoni said.
Harvard got on the board in the first inning, when Matt Vance doubled to start the game and Brandon Byrne singled. Both runners advanced on a balk and then Zack Farkes grounded out to third to score Vance for a 1-0 lead. Then it was all Rhody.
Rhode Island took no time knotting the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning. Savard was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Sullivan. Brown followed with a RBI-double down the left field line to score Savard.
The Rams had what has become their customary big-inning in the second, when they pushed five runs across, highlighted by a three-run homer by Brown. Freshman
CJ Simons (Wyoming, R.I.) walked, stole second and with two outs he was running on the pitch as Viscuso singled off the pitcher's leg. The ball dribbled toward the second baseman and Simons never stopped running, scoring from second for a 2-1 lead.
Savard drew a walk to put runners on first and second and Sullivan hit another single that made contact with the pitcher, this time bouncing to the shortstop, who tried to get Viscuso taking a big turn off third base. The throw sailed into the dugout, allowing Viscuso to score for a 3-1 lead and then Brown blasted his three-run homer to right field for a 6-1 advantage.
Rhody added a run in the third inning when Rainville launched a moon shot of a homer to right field for his third round-tripper of the season.
After a lead-off walk to Viscuso in the fourth inning, Sullivan hit a two-run shot to left field for his team-leading eighth homer of the season and a 9-1 lead.
Rhode Island scored four more runs, all with nobody out, in the sixth inning, to take a 13-1 lead. Junior Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.) walked, Viscuso singled up the middle, the runners advanced on a wild pitch and Savard singled to right center to drive in two. Sullivan followed with a double to the wall in left and then Viscuso scored on a wild pitch. Brown grounded a single through the right side to score Sullivan for his fifth RBI of the game.
The Rams scored another run in the seventh on a bases loaded walk to freshman Matthew Bruderek (East Norriton, Pa.).
The Atlantic 10-leading Rams (12-3 Atlantic 10) will look for their 13th-straight conference series victory this weekend when the Rams head to Philadelphia to take on Saint Joseph's (12-26, 6-7 Atlantic 10).
