The University of Rhode Island baseball team has finally found its groove in conference play after winning two of three games to take a weekend series against George Mason University.
Coming off back-to-back wins against George Washington University and then Stonehill College three days later, the Rams came into the weekend series with some momentum.
On Friday, URI found themselves down early after the Patriots took an early 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth from a pair of runs. However, it didn’t last long, as the Rams had their first six batters in the order get on base in the bottom of the fifth.
Fourth-year Jack Hopko scored on a sacrifice fly from second-year Brian Connolly, and was followed by fourth-year Ryan Henschel’s three-run home run to propel Rhode Island to a 9-4 lead. Third-year Scott Penney grounded out, allowing for fifth-year Ryan King to score URI’s last run of the game to win 10-5.
On Saturday, it was all George Mason on the mound, as the Rams managed just five hits off of fifth-year Diego Cardenas, fifth-year Carter Kelsey and former Ram fifth-year Brandon Hsu.
Cardenas pitched five shutout innings, while Kelsey came in for three innings and allowed the lone run for URI. Hsu closed out the game in the ninth, earning his first save of the season.
Along with the dominant performance on the hill, George Mason also scored twice at the top of the first inning and later added another run at the top of the third, courtesy of a single from second-year Lucas Alberti that drove in third-year Jake Butler for the score to take the second game of the series 3-1.
The final game on Sunday was the highlight of the weekend for Rhode Island, as the Rams pulled off one of the most unthinkable comebacks in program history.
After trailing 9-3 with two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the ninth inning, the odds were stacked against URI. However, a double from Henschel gave the Rams some hope and would later be driven in from a Penney single to cut the lead down, 9-4.
Third-year Aidan Botti doubled, which put two Rams in scoring position before third-year Reece Moroney hit an infield single off the pitcher’s back that brought in Penney. Hopko walked to load the bases, and King followed up with a walk of his own that brought in Botti to cut the lead down to 9-7.
With George Mason one pitch away from victory, fourth-year Nicholas Toro crushed a ball to deep left field on a 3-2 pitch that made Rhode Island astoundingly win the game, 10-9.
“It was amazing,” Rhode Island Head Coach Raphael Cerrato said. “The comeback was improbable. We’ve been fighting to have confidence with a really tough start, but that game gave us a boost of energy and confidence we needed as a team.”
That confidence was in full effect two days later against Quinnipiac University. The Rams poured on four runs in the second inning and seven in the sixth, while holding the Bobcats to just one run through eight innings.
URI put up five runs in the ninth, and Quinnipiac fought back with four runs of its own, but it was too late as the Rams won in commanding fashion, 17-5.
The Rams continued their midweek play against Bryant University on Wednesday but fell short after the Bulldogs took a 4-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning and allowed just one more URI run to cross, leaving with the win, 4-2.
Now winning five out of their last seven games, Cerrato believes his team is becoming more consistent as the season progresses.
“All of our losses were just us beating ourselves,” Cerrato said. “Our pitches are getting better, and we are pitching the way we were capable of pitching. Overall, we’ve been playing more solid defense and have been more consistent at the plate.”
The Rams look to continue their surge in conference play as they’ll head to Virginia to face the University of Richmond in a series over the weekend. All games will be streaming on ESPN+.
