Rhode Island Lineup
White (CF), Brodeur (2B), Ulliana (C), Vargas (1B), Butler (DH), Santos (SS), Fortin (3B), Mircovich (RF), McCall (LF), Twitchell (P)
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Dayton Lineup
Ricciardi (2B), Blackwell (SS), Pujols (DH), Tirotta (3B), Cabrera (LF), Brickman (1B), Pursinger (RF), Curtis (C), Cleary (CF), Wolfe (P)
How it Happened
Rhode Island (28-24-1) wasted absolutely no time, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning before Dayton even record an out.
Austin White singled through the right side to lead things off and
Josh Brodeur followed with a walk that set
Sonny Ulliana's RBI double.
Xavier Vargas then singled up the middle to drive in both Brodeur and Ulliana and put the Rams up 3-0.Â
Max Mircovich led off the top of the second with a four-pitch walk and White singled to put two runners on for Brodeur, who drilled a 2-2 offering back up the middle. Dayton second baseman Mariano Ricciardi was unable to make a play, allowing Mircovich to score from second as the ball riocheted off Ricciardi and rolled into shallow centerfield. Ulliana then launched the first pitch he saw over the right-center wall for a three-run homer that stretched Rhody's lead to 7-0.
A fourth-inning sacrifice fly by Vargas later scored Brodeur to make it 8-0 Rams.
The Flyers (22-26) got their only runs of the game on a pair of solo shots - one by Riley Tirotta in the sixth inning and another by Ricciardi in the eighth.
Ryan Twitchell and
Broc French combined to allow Dayton just three hits through nine complete innings to earn the save.
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Inside the Box Score
- Sonny Ulliana belted his fourth homer of the season, as well as his team-leading 18th double. He also walked once and was hit by a pitch.
- Xavier Vargas recorded his team-leading 16th multi-RBI game of the season, driving in three runs on the night.
- Austin White led all players with four hits. He also scored twice.
- Josh Brodeur crossed the plate three times on a single and two walks.
- Max Mircovich walked once and scored a run.
- Ryan Twitchell earned the win for the Rams, improving to 5-1 on the season. He allowed just one hit and struck out six through five innings of work.
- Broc French closed things out with four innings of two-hit relief to earn the save.
Up Next
Rhode Island advances in the winner's bracket to take on top-seeded VCU, tomorrow at Noon. The winner of that game will move on to Saturday's title game, while the loser will face the winner of tonight's elimination game between Saint Joseph's and Dayton. That game will be played tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.
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