The University of Rhode Island baseball Rams were in action this week, splitting their two-game homestand with a 5-2 walkoff win over Brown University on Tuesday before dropping their Wednesday matchup against the College of the Holy Cross, 7-4 at Bill Beck Field.
The story of both games for Rhode Island was poor offensive production. In Tuesday’s game, URI got the scoring started in the bottom of the third inning, taking a 1-0 lead after Kyle Beaulieu was hit by a pitch, stole second and then scored on a Chris Hess single into shallow centerfield. Brown evened it up in the top of the fifth, and pulled ahead 2-1 in the next inning. The Rams, however, came back and knotted it up at two runs a piece in bottom of the seventh. The Rams then shut down the Bears, only allowing one more base runner for the rest of the afternoon. The stage was set for a dramatic finish to what was largely a pitchers’ battle. Matt O’Neil’s came up to the plate in the tenth and sent the home crowd home happy with a walk-off three-run home run.
URI improved their record to 16-13, while still maintaining a 6-2 record in the Atlantic 10 Conference.. O’Neil has seemed to find his swing in his junior year, adding six homers and 26 RBIs through 25 games this season, after combining for just three home runs and 16 RBI in 58 games played in his two previous years with the team. Despite the win, head coach Raphael Cerrato had some gripes about URI’s display.let the win fool you,
“We weren’t very good offensively,” Cerrato said.
Sophomore pitcher Mark Silvestri threw five innings of two-hit ball while allowing one earned run. Redshirt freshman Jake Rockefeller earned the win in relief following two scoreless innings.
On Wednesday, the Rams took on the Holy Cross Crusaders, but this time came up short. The Rams matched the two spot put up by the Crusaders in the bottom of the first, but could not keep pace with them after a four-run third. The Rams used six pitchers and their bullpen only allowed one earned run and two hits through six and a third innings of work. Freshman starter Nick Robinson was lit up for six runs in just 2.2 innings pitched. URI was unable to dig itself out of the hole, and scored only once more in the fourth.
Cerrato weighed the pros and cons of the brief homestand following the loss.
“Bullpen was outstanding and had very little experience, but we just haven’t been very good offensively the last two days.”
Rhode Island heads down to Virginia play the University of Richmond in a three-game weekend set, where they look to continue their in-conference success.