May 10, 2009

Box Score

AMHERST, Mass. - The Rhode Island baseball team was defeated at Massachusetts, 10-3, Sunday afternoon at Earl Lorden Field. With the loss, the Rams drop their first Atlantic 10 series of the season as UMass also won Saturday's contest by a score of 10-9.

Sophomores Tom Coulombe (Lincoln, R.I.) and Jeff Cammans (Jamestown, R.I.) and freshman Mike LeBel (Quincy, Mass.) paced the Rhody offense with two hits apiece. Coulombe also scored twice while junior Rob DeVeney (Marlton, N.J.) drove in two of URI's three runs.

The Minutemen (21-24, 13-11) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Jim Macdonald homered to left field with two outs.

Coulombe doubled to right center to lead off the top of the second and then stole third to set up DeVeney's sacrifice fly. Coulombe crossed the plate on the play, making it a 2-1 game.

UMass went on to score three runs in the third, one in the fourth and another in the fifth to hold a 7-1 lead after five innings of play.

The Rams (33-17-1, 18-5) got a pair of runs in the top of the sixth on RBI singles by DeVeney and Cammans to get to within four (7-3) but that would be as close as they would get.

UMass went on to plate three more in the bottom of the eighth, putting things out of reach for Rhode Island.

Junior Eric Smith (Milford, Conn.) took the loss for URI, dropping to 5-2 on the season while UMass' Jared Freni earned the win. Smith was charged with eight hits and seven runs over 4.1 innings of work. Freni lasted 5.1 innings and was responsible for all three Rhode Island runs.

The Rams return to Bill Beck Field for their final home game of the season when they host Northeastern at 3 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.