May 15, 2005

Box Score

AMHERST, Mass. - The University of Rhode Island baseball team, fresh off clinching its second-straight Atlantic 10 Regular Season Championship, suffered a 14-inning 6-5 loss to Massachusetts on Sunday in the regular season finale.

The loss, coming on a two-out double by Derrick Durepo in the bottom of the 14th inning, allowed UMass to take two of three games from the Rams, snapping Rhody's streak of 14-straight Atlantic 10 series victories. The last time Rhode Island lost an Atlantic 10 regular-season series, the Rams dropped two of three games to Duquesne in the first conference series of the 2004 season.

"I tip my hat off to UMass, they played hard all weekend and especially today," Rhode Island head coach Frank Leoni. "Both teams battled hard all weekend, we just came up a little bit short today."

Despite the loss, the Rams will be the top-seed in the 2005 Atlantic 10 Tournament and will earn a bye in the first round. Rhody, which finished the regular season at 30-18 and 18-6 in the Atlantic 10, will open A10 tourney play on Thursday, May 26 at 12:00 p.m. at Fifth Third Field in Dayton, Ohio.

Sunday's game was a wild one - and can be seen locally on College Sports Television (CSTV) on Monday at 7:00 p.m. (check local listings). UMass starter Keith Doherty had a no-hitter, despite walking six batters, through the first seven innings.

Massachusetts led 3-0 until the eighth, when Rhode Island junior Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.) led off with a single through the right side to break up the no-hitter. After a botched sacrifice bunt attempt, the Rams pieced together six-straight hits to score five runs and take a 5-3 lead.

Senior Matt Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.) and sophomore Ryan Cunningham (Centreville, Va.) each singles to load the bases. Sophomore Scott Brown (Portland, Maine) drove in Nestor and Sullivan with a single to right and junior Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.) also singled to right to score pinch-runner Daryl Holcomb (Wilmington, Del.) to tie the game. Senior Chris Stelma (Glenwood, N.J.) singled to left with the go-ahead run and after a single by senior Mike Rainville (Pawtucket, R.I.), Russo scored on a fielder's choice groundout by senior Joe Viscuso (Farmingdale, N.Y.).

The Rams had turned a no-hitter through seven innings, into seven hits and five runs in the eighth inning, but for the first time all season a lead after five innings was not protected by the Rhody bullpen - although not from lack of trying.

Rhode Island entered the game with a 24-0 record when holding a lead after five innings, but the Rams coughed up the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, when Jason Twomley hit a solo homer to start the inning and another run scored when the Rams couldn't turn a double play, tying the game at 5-5.

That's how it remained until the 14th, although senior closer Mick Lefort (Lincoln, R.I.) had to make a spectacular bare-handed play on a high chopper to get out of a bases loaded jam in the ninth. Lefort pitched a season-high 3 1/3 innings, without allowing a run and yielding three hits.

With one out in the 14th, UMass put two runners on, but on a sacrifice bunt attempt, Rhody was able to get the force out at third base. So with two outs, Durepo came to the plate in his first game back from an injury and lined a shot down the left field line that left fielder Brown made an all out dive for, but it was out of his reach.

Even by dropping two of the last three Atlantic 10 games, Rhody has a 54-18 conference record over the last three seasons.