April 16, 2008

Box Score

KINGSTON, R.I. - Freshman Pete Mastors (Narragansett, R.I.) went 3-for-5 and belted his first career homerun as the Rhode Island baseball team defeated Hartford, 5-3, Wednesday afternoon at Bill Beck Field. Rookie southpaw Chris Pickering (Lincoln, R.I.) lasted seven innings for URI, earning the win and improving to 4-1 on the season.

Hartford (12-17) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, on an RBI double by Bill Perry before Mastors knotted the score with a lead-off homerun in the bottom of the inning.

The Hawks reclaimed the lead in the top of the fourth when Jason Freethey's sacrifice fly plated Brady Stouffer before Rhody's two-run fifth inning put the Rams on top, 3-2. Mastors - the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week - got things started with a one-out single up the middle and advanced to third on sophomore Oliver Palmer's (North Kingstown, R.I.) center field double. Senior Shaun Hagey (Ephrata, Pa.) then grounded out to second to score Mastors before Palmer crossed the plate on an error by Hartford second baseman Simon Kudernatsch.

Kudernatsch came back with a seventh-inning single up the middle that plated Drew Sgro and tied the score at 3-3 but the Rams took the win on a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning. Hagey put URI back on top when he crossed the plate on Zaneski's team-leading 15th double of the season before Zaneski scored the Rams' final run on an RBI single up the middle by junior Dan Rhault (Lincoln, R.I.).

Pickering struck out six batters and allowed as many hits in seven innings on the hill before sophomore Mark Fraser (Nashua, N.H.) faced the minimum six batters in the final two innings to earn his first save of the season. Hartford's CJ Browne was charged with the loss, giving up three hits and two runs in 3.1 innings of relief work.

The Rams (17-19, 6-6 Atlantic 10) are back in action this weekend, when they travel to Richmond (15-20-1, 6-6 Atlantic 10) for a three-game conference series against the Spiders. First pitch on Friday is slated for 3 p.m while the two teams will also meet at 2 p.m. on Saturday and at Noon on Sunday.