May 9, 2005
Box Score
KINGSTON, R.I. -
Sophomore Steve Holmes (Lincoln, R.I.) allowed just three hits and one run through eight innings and junior Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.) hit a three-run double and solo home run as the University of Rhode Island baseball team defeated Fordham 7-1 Monday afternoon to clinch its third-straight Atlantic 10 East Division championship.
"This is a real testament to our players and coaches for all of their hard work and dedication to maintain a high level of play over three years," Rhode Island head coach Frank Leoni said.
Rhode Island improved to 28-16 overall and 17-4 in the Atlantic 10, pulling three games ahead of Fordham in the East Division. By taking two of three games from Fordham (30-18, 14-7), Rhody won its 14th-straight Atlantic 10 series and has now won 14 of its last 15 games and 20 of its last 22.
URI entered the weekend series with a two game lead over Fordham, but dropped the series' opener 1-0 in extra innings to snap a 12-game winning streak. Rhody bounced back to win the second game of Sunday's doubleheader 6-3 and the cruised to a 7-1 victory Monday to clinch the division title for the third-straight year. Rhode Island has a 53-16 Atlantic 10 record over the last three seasons and has a chance to repeat its 20-4 conference record from a year ago this weekend if the Rams sweep a three-game series at Massachusetts.
Holmes improved to 5-1 on the season and 10-2 on his career, going eight innings and allowing only three hits and one run in the fifth inning. He walked two and struck out six. Fordham's Tim Short had three hits, but Holmes no-hit the rest of the Fordham line-up.
"Steve Holmes did a masterful job today," Leoni said. "He controlled the tempo, was around the strike zone all day and had one of his best outings for us."
Russo went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBIs. He hit a three-run double in the fourth inning and added a solo home run in the eighth. Sophomore
Ryan Cunningham (Centreville, Va.) had two hits, drove in a run and scored another, while junior
Daryl Holcomb (Wilmington, Del.) also had two hits.
URI opened the scoring in the first inning, when Holcomb reached on a bunt single to start the inning and stole second. After sophomore Scott Brown (Portland, Maine) walked, both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Cunningham then grounded out to second to get Holcomb in for a 1-0 lead.
Rhode Island erupted for four runs in the fourth inning. Brown led off with a double, Cunningham singled and senior Mike Rainville (Pawtucket, R.I.) drew a walk to load the bases. Russo drilled a ball to deep left-center field that one-hopped the wall, clearing the bases to give Rhode Island a 4-0 advantage. Junior Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.) followed with a RBI-groundout to third that plated Russo for a 5-0 lead.
Fordham got on the board in the top of the fifth when Gary Kaible was hit by a pitch, stole second and advanced to third on an infield single by Tim Short. After Short stole second, Greg Smith hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Kaible. Holmes got the next batter to groundout to end the inning.
Rhody got that run back in the bottom of the fifth, when Sullivan walked to start the inning, advanced to third on a double down the left field line by Cunningham and scored on a sacrifice fly by Rainville. In the eighth inning Russo hit his third home run of the season to widen the gap to 7-1.
The Rams play their final home game of the season on Tuesday when Connecticut visits Bill Beck Field at 3:30 p.m.
