After dropping the first game of the series against St. Bonaventure, the Rams rebounded and won three of their next four games. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
After URI took a series win to start out Atlantic 10 play against Dayton, they continued their hot streak, taking two of three games against St. Bonaventure this past weekend.
Entering Friday’s game, St. Bonaventure was coming off of their first win of the season after losing their first 18 games. With the Bonnies being as cold as they were, it was certainly a shock to URI when the Bonnies stole the opening game 6-4 in 11 innings.
Although the game ended as a loss, there were certainly bright sports to look at. Addison Kopack went 5-for-6 on the day, tallying three RBIs along with a triple. Sean Sposoto was also tremendous in relief, pitching seven innings and only allowing two runs.
URI was tremendous on both sides of the ball in the second game of the series, beating the Bonnies 9-3. Offensively, Eric Genther led the charge, going 3-for-5 with a triple and an RBI. This performance played a huge part in Genther being named this week’s A-10 Player of the Week, an accolade that was well deserved according to Head Coach Raphael Cerrato.
“He’s an excellent hitter, he’s been good ever since he started in the fall,” Cerrato said. “We needed a guy to step up and he has. He’s one of our most important offensive players.”
Although URI played phenomenally hitting the ball, the best performance came from the mound and from the arm of Dominic Picone.
Picone pitched seven full innings, striking out nine batters and only allowing one run off of three hits. Picone was hot from the start, retiring the first 12 batters, before finally allowing St. Bonaventure their first baserunner in the fifth inning.
“It was a lot of fun,” Picone said enthusiastically. “I had the team behind me, everyone was doing their jobs and it was just a fun game to be in.”
Cerrato was also thrilled with the performance of his junior pitcher.
“He was great,” Cerrato said. “When his stuff is on and he’s in the zone, he is very good.”
Picone’s performance also highlighted how URI can perform as a team when supported by solid pitching — something that they have been able to put together consistently this season.
“It comes down to starting pitching,” Cerrato said. “It’s what you need and if you have good starting pitching you are going to win a lot of games.”
On Sunday, the Rams were dominant from start to finish, coming away with a 13-1 win to take the series. Kopack had another dominant performance, driving in four runs, while Jack Cucinotta and Alex Ramirez both went 2-for-4 on the day. The team was backboned by an impressive pitching performance from Trystan Levesque, who has a 1.29 ERA in A-10 play this year.
After a rough non-conference schedule, the Rams find themselves in a two-way tie for second place with a 4-2 record in A-10 play.
“For sure it is a reset,” Cerrato said. “We’re starting to pitch better and play better defense and the offense will be up and down, but if we just pitch well and play good defense we’re going to have a chance to win every game.”
After the weekend was over, URI’s struggles resumed, dropping a home game on Tuesday afternoon against Brown by a score of 23-5. Brown was propelled towards victory by a strong performance from their designated hitter, Reece Rappoli, who went 5-for-7 from the plate on the day.
However after the huge loss, URI responded swiftly with a huge win of their own when they traveled to Holy Cross on Wednesday afternoon, winning 27-1. Calvin McCall led the Rams to victory, going 3-for-5 and setting a single-game program record of nine RBIs.
The Rams return to A-10 play this weekend when they host the UMass Minutemen in a three-game series. First pitch is on Friday at 3 p.m.