SNOW HILL, N.C. – Rhode Island shaved 18 strokes off its opening round scored on the second day of the Cutter Creek Intercollegiate, helping the Rams inch up two spots in the team standings heading into the final day.

The Rams shot a two-over par 290 on Saturday, a solid improvement from Friday's round that saw the team shoot 20-over par.

Freshman Tony Liu was one of the biggest individual movers on the day. He fired four birdies – including back-to-back holes on 11 and 12 – and finished the round three-under par. It helped him jump 24 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 14th place in the 100-player field.

Graduate student Bryson Richards shot an ever-par 72 and remained in a tie for 22nd overall, the same spot he wound up in after Friday's action. Richards had six birdies – four on the front nine – but two double-bogeys and one bogey on the back side hurt his finish.

Freshman Josiah Tong (plus-3, tied for 79th) and senior Geronimo Narizzano (plus-3, tied for 88th) were the other three scorers for Rhode Island Saturday. Freshman Seb Carlsson (plus-5, tied for 85th) had a solid fifth score for the Rams.

Co-host East Carolina (560) maintained its four-stroke lead on the field, with fellow co-host school Elon (564) in second place. There is a nine-stroke drop off to third-place Old Dominion (575), with Campbell (576) and Charleston Southern (578) rounding out the top five.

The teams play a final round Sunday.

Head Coach Gregg Burke Said...
"We were better today, but not where we want to be. We got good rounds from Tony and Bryson, but we just need more from the others. We played easy courses under easy conditions the first few tournaments, so we knew this would be tougher. But we have not responded.

"Seb has been a pleasant surprise, but we need better scores. With three tournaments left, every round from here on in is its own qualifier."

Team Standings (Day Two)
1. East Carolina – 284-276-560
2. Elon – 291-273-564
3. Old Dominion – 296-279-575
4. Campbell – 288-288-576
5. Charleston Southern – 293-285-578
6. Harvard – 291-288-579
7. Winthrop – 299-284-583
8. Sandhills CC – 296-288-584
9. Davidson – 296-290-586
t10. Presbyterian – 299-295-594
T10. Robert Morris – 292-302-594
12. Radford – 300-296-596
13. Rhode Island – 308-290-598
14. Delaware – 306-293-599
13. Gardner-Webb – 304-296-600