April 1, 2009

Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Rhode Island baseball team went 0-1-1 in a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader at Brown. Rhody dropped the first game, 7-6, and played to a 7-7 tie in game two, before the game was called in the fifth inning due to darkness.

Freshman Mike LeBel (Quincy, Mass.) extended his hitting streak to 13 games as he finished the day with a home run and two doubles. The Rhody third baseman also drove in four runs and scored three times.

In the first game, Rhody jumped out to a three-run lead in the top of the second inning as junior Rob DeVeney (Marlton, N.J.) crossed the plate on passed ball. Freshman Mike Eschmann (Flanders, N.J.) followed with a two-out, two-run single that scored junior Zoey Angulo (Miami, Fla.) and sophomore Jeff Cammans (Jamestown, R.I.), who had draw back-to-back walks.

The Bears (7-11-1), however, came back and tied the score in the bottom of the inning before taking a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third.

The Rams (14-10-1) tallied two more in the top of the fourth as Angulo led off with a walk and advanced to third on a double by LeBel. Eschmann again drove in Angulo, this time with a single to left that moved LeBel over to third. Sophomore Kenny Burns (Shelton, Conn.) then sac-flied to center to score LeBel and give the Rams a 4-3 edge.

Brown tied things up at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth, but URI wend back in front in its next at-bat when senior Dan Rhault (Lincoln, R.I.) scored on an RBI-ground out by sophomore Tom Coulombe (Lincoln, R.I.).

The Bears rallied back one last time though, taking the game on pinch hitter Joe Mellano's two-run single to left in the bottom of the seventh.

Freshman Ryan O'Neill (Dumont, N.J.) got things started in Game Two, sending a two-run double to left to score Rhault and freshman Sam VandenHeuvel (Chandler, Ariz.) and put the Rams up 2-0 in the top of the first.

The lead was short-lived though, as Brown tied things up in the bottom of the inning.

Redshirt freshman Dan Haverstick (Marlton, N.J.) and junior Luis Chacon (Coventry, R.I.) both singled to left in the second inning, setting up LeBel's two-run double. LeBel would then come around to score on a VandenHeuvel single before putting Rhody up 7-2 with a fourth-inning shot over the left field fence that also scored Chacon.

Rhode Island held a 7-3 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth, but Brown scored four times in their half of the inning to even the score at 7-7 before the game was called due to darkness at Murray Stadium.

The Rams return to Kingston to play their first-ever games on newly-renovated Bill Beck Field this weekend when first-place Dayton comes to town for a three-game Atlantic 10 series. The Flyers are a perfect 6-0 in the league, having swept St. Bonaventure and Charlotte in the first two weekends of conference play. URI and UD will square off at 3 p.m. on Friday, 1 p.m. on Saturday and Noon on Sunday.