May 20, 2006

Box Score

KINGSTON, R.I. - Rhode Island senior second baseman Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.) went 2-for-4 with three RBI to lead the Rams to a 8-6 win over Massachusetts and their third-consecutive regular-season Atlantic 10 Championship. URI will be the top seed and receive a first-round bye for the upcoming conference tournament, which starts Wednesday, May 24, at Fordham.

Rhode Island (34-14, 19-7) is one-win shy of the school-record set in 2004 when the Rams finished with a 35-20-1 record, falling to St. Bonaventure in the A-10 Championship game. URI also matched last season's win total when it finished at 34-21.

Junior right fielder Scott Brown (Portland, Maine), who finished 2-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI, got things going for the Rams in the first inning with a two-run single that scored senior left fielder Daryl Holcomb (Wilmington, Del.), who led off the game with a single, and Russo, who reached with a double to left.

URI added three more runs in the second inning. Sophomore shortstop Mike O'Malley (Nashua, N.H.) led off with a single and advanced to third on a single by junior centerfielder Dave Savard (Nashua, N.H.), who finished the day 4-for-4 with a run scored and a RBI. O'Malley stole home on a delayed steal after Savard drew a throw while swiping second. A RBI ground-out by Russo later plated Savard and consecutive doubles by junior first baseman Ryan Cunningham (Centerville, Va.) and Brown made it 5-0.

Massachusetts (14-30, 11-16 A-10) got on the board with a run in the third on the first of two solo homeruns by sophomore third baseman Ryan Franczek to make it a 5-1 game. Three innings later, the Minutemen added another run on a sacrifice fly by sophomore catcher Bryan Garrity that plated junior shortstop Lou Proietti who earlier had reached on a double.

After a pair of walks and a single by Savard loaded the bases, Russo was hit by a pitch for the team-leading 13th time this season, bringing home senior catcher Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.). Russo has been hit by a pitch a school-record 59 times in his career.

UMass pulled within one run bringing three across in the eighth inning. Freshman second baseman Adam Tempesta doubled to bring around Proietti, who led off the inning with a single. Garrity knocked in Tempesta with a single and would later come around to score on a RBI ground-out by junior left fielder Travis Munsey to make the score, 6-5.

The Rams bounced back with two runs in the bottom of the inning as Savard knocked in Nestor, who led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and beat the throw to third on a groundball by O'Malley. Russo later brought in O'Malley with a RBI single to make it an 8-5 contest.

Franczek led off the ninth inning with his second homerun of the day, but URI sophomore Brett Palanski (Nashua, N.H.) settled down to retire three of the next four batters to pick up his fourth save of the season.

URI junior James Norcott (Norton, Mass.) picked up the win, allowing four hits and two runs while striking out four over 6.0 innings to even his record at 4-4.

URI recognized its four seniors - Russo, Nestor, Holcomb and captain Tom Venedam (Suffern, N.Y) in a ceremony before the game. They were a part of the most successful four-year run in school history as the Rams have totaled 129 victories to date in that span.

Final seedings for the A-10 Tournament will be announced later today.