Junior Lefty Jake Walker winds up and gets ready to deliver the pitch. | Photo by Anna
This past weekend, baseball played a
The third and final game turned out to be a tremendous 4-0 victory for the Rams, as freshman pitcher Justin Cherry got the win, allowing Davidson only four hits and no runs in 7 and two-thirds innings, and striking out 11 batters. Tyler Brosius picked up the save for his fourth on the year.
In the top of the first, Austin White crossed the plate on an error by Davidson pitcher Alex Fenton. Later, Xavier Vargas singled, scoring Josh Brodeur. A Jackson Coutts home run and a late game RBI by Brett McManus is all the Rams needed to salvage the series. They ended the series, three games which took place in a span of just 20 hours, on a high note.
The first game, where URI lost 7-2, was originally supposed to take place on Friday, but the game was delayed nearly 27 hours due to rainy weather.
Davidson took the lead 1-0 in the second inning with a homerun by Justin Lebek. URI responded by tying the game 1-1, when Greg Cavaliere got home thanks to an RBI groundout by Austin White.
Unfortunately, Davidson piled it on for Rhode Island in the following three innings, and the score was 6-1 by the end of the fifth. The Rams went on to lose the game 7-2, with sophomore Ryan Twitchell taking the loss for URI, allowing three runs and four hits in two and a third innings. Pitcher Casey Sutherland, meanwhile, got the win for Davidson.
The next game, which occured on Sunday, unfortunately went no better for the Rams. At first, the Rams scored in the top of the first when Xavier Vargas singled to drive in White.
Davidson, after a pair of home runs by Alex Mardiney and Brent Centracchio, made it a 3-1 lead in the following two innings. For most of the game, it looked to be a pitching duel between Nick Robinson for URI and Josh Hudson for Davidson. However, when the score was 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Davidson began to rally, with a two-run homer by Matt Frey. They posted two more runs in the 7th along with the 8th, with an RBI double by Alex Fedje-Johnson. In the end, Davidson came out on top 10-2.
Despite the two defeats, URI is still proud about some aspects of this series. Cherry threw seven scoreless innings, and came out with a win for URI. Cherry also was named A-10 Rookie-of-the-week.
Pitcher Nick Robinson, despite taking a loss, threw for a career high seven strikeouts. John Cristino, Greg Cavaliere, Kevin Heiss all posted two hits in the doubleheader, with Heiss and Cavaliere also stealing bases. Meanwhile, URI still has a record of 8-4 in their division.
URI’s next game will take place when they face the Bryant Bulldogs on Tuesday, April 16 at 3 p.m. They also play Hartford on Wednesday and Sacred Heart on Friday and Saturday.