May 1, 2005
Box Score
NORRISTOWN, Pa. - After winning the first game of Sunday's doubleheader 15-1, the University of Rhode Island baseball team showed it can also win the close ones, taking a 1-0, 11-inning victory over Saint Joseph's in the second game.
With the sweep of Sunday's doubleheader the defending Atlantic 10 regular-season champion Rams win their 13th-straight Atlantic 10 series. Rhode Island improves to 23-15 and 14-3 in the Atlantic 10, having won 15 of their last 16 games.
Freshman CJ Simons (Richmond, R.I.) hit a ground ball with one out in the top of the 11th inning, scoring pinch runner Daryl Holcomb (Wilmington, Del.) for what proved to be the winning run.
Junior Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.) came through with a one out single in the 11th, his third hit of the day, and Holcomb came on as a pinch runner, stealing second and then swiping third base. After sophomore Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.) walked, Simons hit a grounder to the second baseman, who got the out at second, but Simons beat out the relay to first, allowing Holcomb to score from third.
"Josh got us going the 11th inning with the single," Rhode Island head coach Frank Leoni said. "Daryl Holcomb hadn't played all day because of a tweaked hamstring, but came off the bench and stole second and third representing the winning run."
A two-out triple by Saint Joseph's in the bottom of the 11th put the tying run 90-feet away, but senior closer Mick Lefort (Lincoln, R.I.) got the next batter to groundout to shortstop for the final out of the game. Lefort (2-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief, allowing two hits and striking out one.
Junior lefthander Zack Zuercher (Warwick, R.I.) got the start and went 9 1/3 scoreless innings, holding Saint Joseph's to just four hits, while striking out 11. It was Zuercher's 12th double-digit strikeout game in 21 career starts in a Rhody uniform.
He now owns the school record with 18 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings pitched, passing senior teammate Mike Harris (Old Bethpage, N.Y.), who had 18 1/3 in 2002.
In the two games of the doubleheader, three Rhode Island pitchers (Dan Frederick, Zuercher and Lefort) combined to allow 10 hits and one run over 18 innings, while striking out 17.
"Our pitchers threw the heck out of the ball today, they really pitched the way that we know they can pitch," Leoni said. "This is what we've been waiting for from them."
Sophomore Scott Brown (Portland, Maine) had a hit in the game to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.
Saint Joseph's junior Ryan Hoagey set a school record by tossing an 11-inning complete game, but was the tough-luck loser for the Hawks (12-29, 6-8 A-10). Hoagey (3-5) went all 11 innings for his second complete game of the year and bettered the old SJU mark of 10 innings pitched in a single game. He scattered nine hits and struckout one, while walking four.
"Hoagey pitched an unbelievable game for them," Leoni said. "He faced us after we had scored 15 runs in the first game and did a great job keeping our hitters off-balance, mixing his pitches and hitting his spots."
