Rhode Island Starters
Hernandez (CF); Hanewich (RF); Bulinsky (DP); Knarr (1B); Power (3B); Orndorff (LF); Torres (SS); Maleitzke (C); Miller (2B); Zaun (P)
  
Ohio Starters
Hummel (RF); Yuhas (2B); Hoffner (C); Farmer (1B); Westler (3B); Wilson (LF); Wilcox (DP); Kennelly (SS); Keidel (CF); Miller (P)

How It Happened
Rhode Island (0-1) opened its season with an 8-0 loss in five innings to Ohio Friday at the Lowcountry Classic, hosted by College of Charleston.

Ohio (7-4) scored once in the top of the first, then broke the game open with a five-run second inning. With one run in already and the bases loaded, Lauren Yuhas hit a ball to rightfield. An error on the play allowed all three runners to score while Yuhas moved all the way to third base. She later scored on an Emma Hoffner single to make the score 6-0.

It was more than enough run support for Ohio starter Skipp Miller. After allowing a one-out single to Mandi Hanewich followed by a walk to Kylie Bulinski in the bottom of the first, Miller retired the final 14 batters of the game. She struck out six batters in five innings.

Inside the Box Score

• Sophomore Avery Vale-Cruz gave the Rams a solid relief outing, allowing two earned runs on three hits over 3.0 innings of work.
• Vale-Cruz struck out two batters.
• Junior Mandi Hanewich had Rhode Island's lone hit, a single through the left side in the first inning.
• Junior Kylie Bulinski was the only other Ram to reach base. She drew a first-inning walk.
• Freshmen Katie Knarr and Julianne Torres both started in their collegiate debut for Rhode Island. Knarr got the nod at first base, while Torres handled shortstop.

Up Next
Rhode Island plays College of Charleston Friday evening. The game will be streamed on FloSoftball.com. First pitched is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., though it will be the fourth game of the day. The start time may be impacted by the playing time of the other games.