May 26, 2005

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - Senior Matt Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.) hit his school-record 13th home run of the season as he gave the University of Rhode Island baseball team the lead for good in a 7-4 victory Thursday over Dayton in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

The top-seeded Rams (32-19) will play No. 6 seed Richmond at 12:00 p.m. on Friday at Fifth Third Field. The Spiders upset No. 3 Fordham 4-1 in 13 innings Wednesday and then took down No. 2 seed George Washington 10-3 Thursday. With a win Friday, the two-time defending Atlantic 10 regular-season champion Rams would advance to the Atlantic 10 title game looking for their first conference tournament championship and NCAA berth.

Rhody senior Dan Frederick (Dracut, Mass.) earned the win which is the 22nd of his collegiate career, tying the Rhode Island school record. He allowed four hits and two runs in the first inning, but then just four hits until being relieved with two outs in the seventh.

Dan Frederick tied the URI career record for wins with his 22nd victory Thursday.

"He's a senior, a warrior, and he has been in this situation many times for us," Rhode Island head coach Frank Leoni said. "He didn't have his best stuff, but he willed himself through and that's what we have come to expect from Dan."

Senior closer Mick Lefort (Lincoln, R.I.) earned his eighth save of the season, tying his own single-season school record from last spring. Lefort now has 16 saves in 17 opportunities in his two years as the Rams closer.

The Rams erased a 3-0 deficit to tie the game with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Then in the fourth, Sullivan set the school's single-season home run record with his 13th of the year and third round-tripper in as many games.

"I was ahead in the count, sitting dead red looking for the fastball and I got one on the plate and tried to put a good swing on it," Sullivan said. "I knew I hit it well, but I wasn't sure if I got enough because I had never played here before."

"It's tough to point out one guy on our team, but if there is one go-to guy it's Sully," Leoni said. "But today was another example of the fact that you can shut down a guy here and a guy there, but we have a good lineup one through nine, and this was a real team effort."

Junior Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.) added an insurance two-run homer in the eighth inning - his fourth of the season - that made it just inside the right field foul pole.

"I knew it would get out, but I wasn't sure if it would stay fair," Nestor said. "It just barely stayed inside the pole. That was some good insurance."

Juniors Daryl Holomb (Wilmington, Del.), Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.) and Nestor, and sophomores Scott Brown (Portland, Maine) and Dave Savard (Nashua, N.H.) each had two hits for the Rams.

Mick Lefort tied his own single-season school record for saves with his eighth of the year.

Dayton jumped on Frederick in the first inning, when Michael Massa drew a lead-off walk and Galen Schumm doubled to left-center field on a 3-2 pitch to plate Massa, but the relay throw from Savard to Viscuso to senior Mike Rainville (Pawtucket, R.I.) caught Schumm trying to extend it to a triple. With two outs, William Benoit singled to center and after Brandon Godzik walked, Bryan Chandler, who drove in three of Dayton's four runs on the day, grounded a single through the right side to plate Benoit for a 2-0 lead.

The Flyers made it 3-0 in the third when Godzik doubled to left-center and scored on another groundball through the right side by Chandler.

Rhode Island got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when Holcomb ripped a single to center field, advanced to second on a groundout by Sullivan and scored on a RBI-single up the middle by Brown. Sophomore Ryan Cunningham (Centreville, Va.) followed with an opposite field double to the warning track in right-center field to score Brown all the way from first and cut the gap to 3-2. After Rainville grounded out to move Cunningham to third, Russo slapped a two-out, two-strike single to right to tie the game.

The Rams took the lead for good in the fourth inning on Sullivan's two-run homer to left field. Savard led-off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Viscuso, but Holcomb's hard chopper up the middle was gloved by Dayton pitcher Luke Trubee and the Flyers were able to get Savard out in a rundown. With two outs though, Sullivan got ahead in the count and launched a 3-1 pitch into the left field seats.

"I don't consider myself a home run hitter," said Sullivan, who is also one of the Rams best bunters. "It just kind of happens."

Savard put a damper on a possible Dayton rally in the sixth when he made an all-out diving catch on a blast to the right-center field warning track by Schumm.

After allowing the four hits and two runs in the first inning, Frederick settled down to allow only four hits and one run over the next 5 2/3 innings before being relieved by sophomore left-hander Adam Perkins (Hudson, N.H.) with two outs in the seventh. Perkins was on to face two lefties in Godzik and Chandler, and while Godzik singled, Perkins got Chandler to groundout to end the inning.

Junior Tom Venedam (Suffern, N.Y.) came on to pitch the eighth and retired the first two batters before giving up back-to-back-singles that gave Flyers runners on first and third with two outs. Lefort came on in relief and struck out Schumm to end the inning.

Nestor gave the Rams insurance in the bottom of the eighth when he capitalized on Russo's second two-out single of the day to slice the home run just inside the right field foul pole for a 7-3 Rhody advantage.

Lefort retired the first two batters he faced in the ninth, but a fly ball was lost in the sun and went for a double. Chandler singled to right to cut the gap to 7-4, but Lefort retired the next batter on a fly ball to center to end the game.