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University of Rhode Island

031525 depino action
Connor Caldon
5
Winner Rhode Island URI 11-8, 3-0 A-10
1
VCU VCU 4-15, 0-3 A-10
Winner
Rhode Island URI
11-8, 3-0 A-10
5
Final
1
VCU VCU
4-15, 0-3 A-10
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Rhode Island URI 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 5 8 1
VCU VCU 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 1

W: Cullen, Jake (2-1) L: Campbell, Cooper (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Rhode Island Sweeps VCU on the Road

Rhode Island Starters
DePino (3B), Genther (RF), Moroney (SS), Perron (1B), Hopko (DH), Toro (C), Penney (2B), Hindle (LF), McKenzie (CF), Cullen (P) 

VCU Starters 
Lee (C), Henson (DH), Swenson (1B), Flores (2B), Sullivan (LF), Kleinman (SS), Estrada (RF), Kirkpatrick (3B), Werchan (CF), Garrett (P) 

How it Happened
The Rhode Island baseball team closed out its series at VCU with a 5-1 win in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.

URI (11-8, 3-0 A-10) swept its hosts over the course of the three-game set, outscoring the opposing Rams 25-16 overall. 

Saturday evening's win was highlighted by a stellar performance from the Rhody pitching staff. Outside of a solo shot from VCU's (4-15, 0-3 A-10) Flores in the bottom of the second, the Rhode Island arms stifled VCU. 

Jake Cullen gave URI a strong, 5.0-inning start before turning things over to the bullpen. After Connor Johnston threw two scoreless frames, even forcing VCU to leave the bases loaded in the seventh, AJ Jones came in and took two of the three batters he faced in the eighth down on strikes. Joe Sabbath was on the hook for the final three outs, doing so in short order with a pair of groundouts before forcing a Ram to fly out to center. 

Despite VCU getting on the board first for the first time all weekend, URI's offense came through in the top of the fourth when Will Hindle's RBI single knotted the score at one run apiece. In the following frame, DJ Perron delivered a sac fly that awarded his team the lead before driving in DePino with a double later in the seventh to make it a 3-1 game. In the same frame, Jack Hopko skied a ball out to center to add one more score.

Rhody used a little small ball to plate its final run of the night, getting some insurance when Brody McKenzie laid down a sacrific squeeze that allowed Scott Penney to come home in the eighth. 

Inside the Box Score
  • The last time URI won its A-10 opening series was back in 2022 when the team took two of three at Dayton.
  • Rhody's last league-opening sweep was in 2017 at Davidson. 
  • Freshman Jake Cullen picked up the win to improve to 2-1 on the year. In 5.0 innings, he scattered three hits while walking two batters and striking out three. He allowed just one run.
  • Senior Anthony DePino had his second three-hit game of the day, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored. He also walked twice.
  • Graduate student DJ Perron led the Rams with two RBI and was 1-for-3 at the plate.
  • Junior Jack Hopko, redshirt sophomore Will Hindle and senior Brody McKenzie tallied oen RBI apiece. 
  • Rhody had an 8-3 advantage in hits.
  • Both teams committed an error. 
Up Next
Rhode Island will return to Kingston to host Stonehill on Wednesday, March 19. First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. on ESPN+. 

 
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