April 29, 2007
Box Score
KINGSTON, R.I. - Seniors Scott Brown (Portland, Maine) and Eric Larson (Bradenton, Fla.) opened the 10th inning with back-to-back doubles to lead the Rhode Island baseball team to a 5-4 win over Xavier, Sunday afternoon, at Bill Beck Field in Kingston, R.I. With the victory, Rhody completed a three-game Atlantic 10 series sweep of the Musketeers.
The Rams took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when senior Ryan Cunningham (Centerville, Va.) singled to right center to score classmate Dave Savard (Nashua, N.H) and Larson.
Xavier got a run back in the top of the fifth before redshirt junior Matt Miranda (Suffern, N.Y.) came in to relieve redshirt senior starter Adam Perkins (Hudson, N.H.) with bases loaded and one out. The Musketeers then took a 3-2 lead when Neil Lindgren's single to shallow right scored Drew Schmidt and Matt Waskerwitz. Junior catcher Zach Zaneski (Waterford, Conn.) ended the inning and prevented Xavier from extending its lead when he gunned down to third to pick off Adam Pasono with designated hitter Sean Farrell at the plate.
In the bottom of the seventh, Zaneski led off with a single to right and advanced to third on freshman Oliver Palmer's (North Kingstown, R.I.) double to left center before tying the score, 3-3, on junior Dan Rhault's (Lincoln, R.I.) ground out to short. Brown then plated Palmer with an RBI single to right to give Rhody a 4-3 advantage.
The Musketeers evened the score in the top of the eighth before redshirt freshman Tim Boyce (Swansea, Mass.) struck out Waskerwitz to get URI out of the inning with the go-ahead run on third base.
The Rams had a chance to put the game away in the bottom of the ninth, but Rhault was stranded on second after sending a two-out double to left.
Freshman southpaw Mark Fraser (Nashua, N.H.) was brought in to face lefty Adam Lipski in the top of the 10th and struck him out before Xavier's Robbie Kelley and Andy Zellers ended the inning watching third strikes from junior closer Jamie Degidio (Narragansett, R.I.).
In the bottom of the inning, Brown led off with a double to deep left before scoring the winning run just three pitches later when Eric Larson crushed a double to right field.
Degidio earned the win for the Rams while Xavier's David Hartman was charged with the loss. Perkins threw four-and-a-third innings for URI, giving up five hits and three runs with three strikeouts.
The Rams (15-24, 10-8 Atlantic 10) return to action tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Sienna for a 4:00 p.m. game against the Saints.
