The University of Rhode Island baseball team won two out of three over the weekend against La Salle University and split a pair of midweek games, winning Tuesday over Bryant University and losing Wednesday against Merrimack College.
In the opener on Friday, it was fourth-year Rueben Livingston who scored the first run of the series on a solo shot to put the Explorers up 1-0 in the second.
The Rams immediately responded in the bottom half on an RBI base hit from fourth-year Ryan Henschel to tie the game up at one.
Henschel came through again in the fourth with a double, driving in two more runs and giving Rhode Island a 3-1 lead.
Third-year Scott Penney then hit a single up the middle to score Henschel and third-year Aidan Botti to extend the lead to 5-1.
First-year Sam Houchens came in and pitched well for the first 4.2 innings for URI with seven strikeouts, giving up three earned runs and two walks.
Houchens exited, and the Explorers started to chip away, as fourth-year Ryan Albin hit an RBI triple that was followed up by a two-run homer from fifth-year Chase Swain to cut the deficit to one.
La Salle took the lead in the sixth inning when first-year Nico Amecangelo reached on a fielder’s choice that tied the game, and then second-year Jayden Novak hit an RBI single to put the Explorers up 6-5.
After four innings of being shut out, Rhode Island was down to their last three outs, but then fourth-year Jack Hopko came up and blasted a game-tying homer to lead off the ninth.
In extras, it was second-year Manny Santos who shut things down with a dominating performance, putting up seven strikeouts in three innings with no runs given up.
The Rams loaded the bases in the bottom of the 12th and then won on a passed ball that sealed the come-from-behind victory, 7-6.
In Saturday’s game, the Explorers held control early, going up 3-0 through four innings, before Rhode Island broke through on an RBI double in the fourth inning from fifth-year Ryan King to put them on the board.
In the fifth inning, the Rams tied things up on a two RBI knock from third-year Reece Moroney to knot things up at 3.
Third-year Kosei Suzuki hit a go-ahead RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to put the Explorers up 4-3.
Rhode Island looked for heroics again in the ninth with runners on the corners, but then a sacrifice bunt and two strikeouts stranded the pair and ended the game.
In Sunday’s series finale, the Rams came out swinging and were all over La Salle.
Rhode Island entered the ninth inning with a 9-0 lead thanks to some contributions from Moroney, who had an RBI double and single and King, who had a home run and a two RBI double.
The Explorers did not back down as they loaded the bases, then Livingston whacked an RBI single to put La Salle on the board. The next two batters were plunked to make it 9-3.
After a wild pitch made it 9-4, the next batter, Novak, belted a ball into the gap, and suddenly it was a 9-6 ball game.
Rhode Island made its fourth pitching change of the inning and brought in Santos, who got the last two batters to fly out and ground out to help the Rams survive a scare, 9-6.
”I’m a big competitor, and I want to take any opportunity to go out there and do the best that I can,” Santos said. “The coach didn’t want to have to use me, but even after doing 49 pitches on Friday, I was ready to go yesterday and today.”
URI head coach Raphael Cerrato gave his praises to Santos after the game for being able to go out there and get the job done when they needed him.
“He has been lights out,” Cerrato said. “It’s nice to have someone like that at the back end of the game to really shut the door.”
In Tuesday’s game, Rhode Island outslugged Bryant by a score of 10-9.
The Rams were led by second-year Ryan Thompson, who had four RBIs, two doubles and a two-run home run and second-year Danny Leikus with two singles and a two-run home run.
First-year Mike Fiatarone had a single and an RBI double, and fourth-year Ellis Garcia had a homer and a single to provide some of the offense for the Bulldogs.
In Wednesday’s game, Rhode Island fell to Merrimack by a final score of 5-2.
The Warriors shut out the Rams through the first five innings, getting contributions from fifth-year Joey Frammartino, who had an RBI base hit, third-year Jack Andrews, who hit a solo shot, second-year Matt DeShiro, who had an RBI double and third-year Craigue Brooks, who had an RBI sacrifice fly.
Thompson got both of Rhody’s RBIs with a solo shot in the fifth inning and scored again in the sixth inning on a hit by pitch.
First-year Nick Koch hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth inning to score their fifth run and help Merrimack seal the victory.
Next up, Rhode Island heads to New York for a three-game set with St. Bonaventure University. Friday’s doubleheader and Saturday’s game will be streamed on ESPN+.
