The baseball team’s woes continued this past weekend as they were outscored 49-3 against Auburn. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
The University of Rhode Island Baseball Team traveled to Auburn University this past weekend looking for their first win of the season, but unfortunately for them, they returned to Kingston still in search of their first victory.
While Auburn were a better team on paper compared to URI, no one was expecting the onslaught that was the 49-3 combined score over the course of the weekend.
“We’re just not a good team right now, it’s pretty much that simple,” Head Coach Raphael Cerrato said.
While blunt, there is no other way to describe the Rams’ start to the 2022 campaign. They currently have a record of 0-10, while being outscored 111-24.
On top of the immense scoring differential, the Rams rank 289th out of 293 teams in the NCAA in terms of batting average, with .178. Additionally, they sit at 276th in team ERA, where they have 9.92 earned runs per game.
The weekend started off on a high note for the Rams as they took an early 2-0 lead over the Tigers in their first game on Friday. A Xavier Vargas RBI double scored Addison Kopack in the first inning, followed by a solo home run by Anthony DePino in the top of the second.
The URI lead did not last long as Auburn’s Sonny DiChiara unleashed a 2-run home run in the bottom of the third, tying the game and kickstarting the Tigers’ offense for the rest of the game.
The bullpen pair of Carson Skipper and Blake Burkhalter led the Tigers in their first dominant win of the weekend, allowing only four total baserunners between the two of them. Skipper picked up his first win of the season in Friday’s game and the Rams had very little answers for him.
“He’s good,” Cerrato said. “He just threw well and we didn’t make enough adjustments on him to score runs.”
Saturday was the worst day of the weekend for URI. Playing a double-header against the Tigers, they lost by a combined score of 28-0.
The first game was all Auburn to start out, gathering a 7-0 lead before URI was able to even advance a runner to second base, which occurred in the fifth inning. After that fifth inning, URI only had one hit, allowing Auburn to finish off the afternoon with a 16-0 win.
“We had really good opportunities to score and blow open some innings and we didn’t do it,” Cerrato said. “I think from that point on our confidence went down.”
The dip in confidence was evident in the second game, with an even worse offensive performance, a 12-0 loss including only one URI hit.
Auburn scored a whopping nine runs in the opening inning and that was enough to shut the door for URI based off of the dominance of their pitching that day. Trace Bright pitched six out of seven innings played, recording a no-hitter through the first five. However, a Brody McKenzie single in the top of the sixth ended that streak.
When asked if the team’s struggles were shifting more so into their offensive performance following back-to-back shutouts, Cerrato had a definitive answer.
“It’s everything, every part of our game is not up to where it should be,” Cerrato said.
Sunday served URI with another loss, but the scoring drought was ended with a solo home run from Addison Kopack, his first collegiate home run.
“It felt really amazing, definitely something I’ve been waiting for to happen,” Kopack said. “It’s definitely a special moment,” he added.
However, the home run was not enough to stop Auburn, as they coasted into the end of the weekend with a 14-1 win.
This upcoming weekend serves as the Rams’ toughest challenge of the season, the University of Tennessee Volunteers, who are currently ranked 10th in the nation.
Even with another tough opponent on the horizon, Cerrato is more so concerned with his own team rather than who they are playing.
“I don’t really care who we are playing,” Cerrato said. “It’s just about executing. It’s more about us.”
The Rams begin their three-game series against the Volunteers in Knoxville on Friday at 6:30 p.m.