March 29, 2009

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CINCINNATI - The Rhode Island baseball team fell to Xavier, 6-1, on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon at Hayden Field. Junior Rob DeVeney (Marlton, N.J.) was 1-for-2 at the plate with a solo home run and a pair of walks. Sophomore Kenny Burns (Shelton, Conn.) was the lone Rams to finish with multiple hits as he went 2-for-4 on the afternoon.

Freshman Mike LeBel (Quincy, Mass.) and junior Oliver Palmer (North Kingstown, R.I.) also recorded hits for Rhode Island, extending their streaks to 10 and nine games, respectively.

With rain falling and winds gusting up to 30mph, the game started at 11:30 a.m. when the "RealFeel" temperature - according to AccuWeather.com - was in the 20's.

The Musketeers (13-8, 4-2 Atlantic 10) jumped out to an early lead, plating a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the second inning.

Rhody (14-8, 4-2 Atlantic 10) scored its lone run of the game in the top of the fourth when DeVeney hit his second long ball in as many days. The home run was URI's 26th of the season as the Rams have now surpassed their team team totals from the past two season. Rhody went yard 24 times in 2008 and 25 times in 2007. The single-season team record at Rhode Island was set four years ago when the 2005 squad combined for 46 homers.

The Rams' best scoring opportunity came in the top of the sixth when, trailing 4-1, Palmer led off with a single to left. After a pair of strikeouts, DeVeney and sophomore Tom Coulombe (Lincoln, R.I.) drew back-to-back walks to load the bases, but LeBel flied out to center to end the inning before Rhody could do any damage.

The Rams would record just one more hit - a seventh-inning single by Burns - the rest of the way while Xavier tacked on one more run in the seventh and another in the eighth to lock up the 6-1 win.

Junior starter Eric Smith (Milford, Conn.) lasted 5.1 innings and gave up four runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Junior relievers Dan Rossignol (Nashua, N.H.) and Mark Fraser (Nashua, N.H.) allowed one hit and one run each, both pitching 1.1 innings for the Rams. Fraser sat three down looking.

Xavier's Josh Deeg got the win for the Musketeers - his second of the season.

The Rams are back in action on Tuesday, March 31 when they travel to New Britain, Conn. for a 5 p.m. game against Central Connecticut.