The University of Rhode Island baseball team got their conference schedule started on the wrong foot over the weekend as they were swept by Saint Louis University.
Rhode Island traveled to Saint Louis, Missouri on March 28-30 for a three game set against a Billikens team who went into the series with the best record in the conference. The Rams, meanwhile, entered the weekend at 5-13 on the season, however they were winners of two of their last three games.
Second-year first baseman Michael Anderson, the reigning Atltanic 10 Player of the Week, got things started right away for URI in the top of the first inning on Thursday with a solo home run to give them an early 1-0 lead.
“It’s always good to get the team going by just getting some runs on the board,” Anderson said. “Any way that I can help my team win is my biggest thing.”
Saint Louis knotted things up at one in the bottom half of the first inning on an error, but after that both starting pitchers settled down and found their groove. Second-year Evan Maloney went six innings for the Rams and allowed zero earned runs with three strikeouts. URI Head Coach Raphael Cerrato talked about how Maloney has stepped up for the team in light of some injuries they have dealt with to the pitching staff.
“We weren’t expecting him [Maloney] to be a starter going into the fall because of other guys we had who are injured,” Cerrato said. “But, he’s been our best starting pitcher for the past month so he’s been huge.”
The score remained at 1-1 until the top of the seventh, when second-year outfielder Jack Hopko came off the bench for Rhode Island to deliver a go ahead run-scoring double. Once again, the lead was not held for long as Saint Louis responded in the bottom half of the inning with a run of their own on a single by third-year outfielder Patrick Clohisy.
After a strong appearance from fourth-year Ethan Bell out of the bullpen for SLU, recording five straight outs with three of them being strikeouts, the Billikens had a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth. With one out and two runners on, the stage was set for Clohisy and he came through with a walk-off single, giving Saint Louis a game one win by the score of 3-2.
“First game was really frustrating because we thought it could’ve easily been a three or four-run win,” Cerrato said. “They [Saint Louis] took advantage of some opportunities and pulled it out in the last inning.”
Both sides traded zeroes in the opening two innings of game two, but Saint Louis scored two runs in both the third and fourth innings to take a 4-0 lead. Leading the charge for the Billikens was again Clohisy, who drove in three of these four runs.
URI got a run back in the top of the fifth on a run-scoring single by third-year outfielder Brody McKenzie to cut the lead to 4-1. First-year pitcher Jackson Yarberry held the Rams offense in check aside from that, though, going six innings with six strikeouts and no walks. Saint Louis blew the game open with four runs in the bottom of the eighth, capped off by a two-run double from fourth-year outfielder Tyler Fogarty. The Billikens cruised from here to a 8-1 game two victory.
In the series finale on Saturday, it was once again Saint Louis who jumped out to the early lead on a two-run home run by fourth-year outfielder Cole Smith in the bottom of the third. This time, however, Rhode Island responded right away with their biggest inning of the series. The Rams put together three runs in the top of the fourth to take their first lead since Thursday’s first game. Third-year infielder Anthony Depino had the game-tying double and second-year outfielder Will Hindle gave them the lead with a single.
The lead was short-lived, as Saint Louis came back with four runs in the bottom half of the fourth, with the big blow being a two-run double by Fogarty to give the Billikens a 6-3 lead.
Led by third-year pitcher Evan Gray, who struck out five batters in 3.1 scoreless innings pitched, the bullpen for SLU quieted the bats for the Rams the rest of the way, closing out a 7-3 win for the series sweep. Throughout the entire series, Billikens pitching allowed just six runs. Anderson discussed some of the adjustments that Rhode Island will look to make to try and spark their offense moving forward.
“Stringing singles, hit by pitches, willing to get hit by a pitch to get on base I think is our biggest thing,” Anderson said. “We just need baserunners to get on and we just need those timely hits.”
Following this series, Rhode Island moved to 5-16 and have lost their past four games. They were scheduled to try and bounce back against Boston College in a non-conference game on Wednesday, however the game was canceled due to weather. The Rams will now turn their attention to their first home conference series of the year against the University of Massachusetts on over the weekend.
“Losing three early to Saint Louis is a tough way to start the conference year,” Cerrato said. “But, there’s still 21 games left and this is a very important weekend to get back on track.”
URI hopes that their return to Bill Beck Field can spark some momentum and result in their first conference win of the season. The series against UMass will begin at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon on ESPN+.