The University of Rhode Island baseball team won its third straight weekend series against St. Bonaventure University, while splitting its in-state midweek matchups against Bryant University on Tuesday and Brown University on Wednesday.
Weather once again forced Friday to be a doubleheader, where Rhode Island took both games. The Rams kicked off the day with an 8-1 win, with third-year Jeremy Urena pitching six scoreless innings. Offensively, fourth-year center fielder Brody McKenzie went 4-4 with four stolen bases, tying the program record, while driving in two runs and scoring twice himself.
“I don’t know the last time I had four hits in a game,” McKenzie said. “I was just taking one pitch at a time, one at-bat and it worked out in my favor. On the bases, the pitchers were slow to the plate, so I was just taking advantage of it.”
McKenzie has been a major contributor at the bottom of the order this season, batting over .350 after not reaching even .150 in his first three seasons.
Previously considered a defensive specialist, part of McKenzie’s offensive fix came from his roommate, fourth-year Anthony DePino.
“I’m more confident this year, and I did change up my swing a lot,” McKenzie said. “I started to try to mimic [DePino’s swing] a little bit, and it’s been working well.”
The nightcap of the doubleheader was tighter, but still resulted in a 5-3 Rhody win. Sixth-year DJ Perron delivered a solo homer in the sixth inning to tie the game at three, and fourth-year Eric Genther put the Rams in front with a sacrifice fly. Third-year Jack Hopko hit his own homer in the seventh to cushion the lead.
After six innings from fifth-year Trystan Levesque, second-year Zach Morris bridged the gap to fellow second-year closer Joe Sabbath. Across two innings of hitless work, Sabbath struck out five of the seven batters he faced to collect his fifth save of the season.
“If it’s not the best, it’s definitely one of the top two or three outings [Sabbath has] had,” Rhode Island Head Coach Raphael Cerrato said. “He was lights out in that game; it was great.”
On a cold and windy Saturday afternoon, the Rams couldn’t pick up the sweep as St. Bonaventure rode a five-run first inning to a 12-8 win.
First-year pitcher Jake Cullen struggled to get going after a throwing error on a leadoff bunt; six runs crossed as the Bonnies knocked him out of the game after 2.1 innings.
“[The weather] was terrible—really, really tough conditions to even throw,” Cerrato said. “Two of his last three starts, he’s just pitched in awful conditions, to be honest.”
Hopko hit his second home run of the series, going 3-5 with 5 RBIs. Amid his hot streak, he’s had hits in four of his last five games. He spent all five games in the outfield; before that, he had been the team’s designated hitter in 75% of his previous starts.
“[Playing the field] helps you stay in the flow of the game,” Hopko said. “If you have a bad at-bat, you can go out in the field and make a play and make up for it. Obviously, it’s nice being in the lineup either way… Helping the team out in as many ways as you can is what’s important for me.”
After finding itself trailing 5-0 after four innings against Bryant on Tuesday, Rhode Island fell 7-4 despite late efforts to claw back.
From the fifth to the eighth inning, URI scored a run in each frame. McKenzie got his first homer of the season, and second of his career, in the seventh. Fifth-year Rob Butler hit his own home run in the eighth.
Staying in-state, Rhody mercied Brown in seven innings on Wednesday. 10 runs scored across the first three innings put the Rams in control, but the Bears battled back with five of their own in the third.
Scoring opened with Hopko tripling to score two. Fourth-year infielder Ryan King made his second start of the season and went 3-4. Genther also went 3-4 at the plate, leading the team with five RBIs, largely thanks to a fifth-inning grand slam.
Perron’s sacrifice-fly in the seventh brought URI ahead 16-6, then first-year Manny Santos pitched a scoreless inning to end the game early.
Rhode Island returns to the diamond over the weekend to face the University of Dayton for a three-game series. The full slate will be broadcast on ESPN+, with radio broadcasts on RIU2.org for Friday’s 3 p.m. matchup and on WRIU 90.3 FM for Saturday’s 1 p.m. matchup.
