May 11, 2008

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KINGSTON, R.I. - The Rhode Island baseball team posted a 3-2 Senior Day victory over Massachusetts, Sunday afternoon at Bill Beck Field. Senior Jamie Degidio (Narragansett, R.I.) earned the win, throwing 2.2 innings of scoreless relief while junior Luke Demko (Gilford, N.H.) picked up his second save of the series.

Senior Zach Zaneski (Waterford, Conn.) led the Rams offensively, going 2-for-4 with a homerun and driving in what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Rams (27-22-1, 14-9-1 Atlantic 10) opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth when Zaneski led off with a solo shot over the left center fence to put Rhody up 1-0. Senior Mike O'Malley (Nashua, N.H.) followed with a bunt single and then advanced to third on a base hit by sophomore Oliver Palmer (North Kingstown, R.I.). A sacrifice fly by sophomore Rob Deveney (Marlton, N.J.) then plated O'Malley and gave the Rams a two-run lead.

Then advantage was short-lived though, as the Minutemen used two unearned runs to tie things up in the top of the fifth.

However, freshman Pete Mastors (Narragansett, R.I.) drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the inning and went on to steal both second and third to set up Zaneski's run-scoring single through the right side and put URI up for good, 3-2.

UMass (17-24, 10-14 Atlantic 10) was unable to get past second base in its final four at-bats, as Degidio and Demko combined for six strikeouts and just three hits over the final 4.2 innings. Sophomore starter Eric Smith (Milford, Conn.) lasted 4.1 innings and finished with six K's, one walk and no earned runs. Massachusetts' Jared Freni took the loss.

Prior to the start of the game, Degidio, Shaun Hagey (Ephrata, Pa.), O'Malley, Brett Palanski (Nashua, N.H.), Chris Parkinson (Utica, N.Y.) and Zaneski were accompanied on the field by their families and honored in a brief Senior Day ceremony.

The Rams return to action on Tuesday afternoon, when they travel to Northeastern for their final non-conference game before closing out the regular season with a three-game series at Charlotte, next weekend.