Baseball Will Host Quinnipiac Thursday At Bill Beck Field

May 1, 2003

KINGSTON, R.I. - The morning showers have passed through Kingston, so the University of Rhode Island's baseball team will host Quinnipiac in a non-conference game on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at Bill Beck Field. It will be the last home game for seniors Justin Lamboy and Chris Fisher.

Rhode Island is in first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference East Division with an 11-7 record (19-23 overall). Quinnipiac enters the game with a 12-22 mark, coming off a 15-4 loss to Central Connecticut Wednesday afternoon.

The Rams are coming off one of the most impressive wins in school history, a 28-8 win over Atlantic 10 foe Fordham on Monday in which Rhode Island was up 23-0. The Rams tied a school record with 28 runs, while their 31 hits established a new school record. Sophomore Matt Sullivan tied a school record by scoring five times in the win.

Rhode Island junior Dan Batz is second in the Atlantic 10 in hitting, entering today's game with a .403 batting average and a league-leading 62 hits. He entered the week with the 16th-highest batting average in the country and is among the Atlantic 10 leaders in several other offensive categories. Batz has 34 RBIs, 12 doubles, two triples and five homers.

Quinnipiac's Kevin MacIlvane leads the team in hitting with a .330 average to go with 13 runs and eight RBIs. Albert Marano is batting .319 with a team-leading 25 runs, 24 RBIs and five home runs. Buddy Bengel leads the pitching staff with a 4-3 record and 2.91 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 52.2 innings of work.

Rhode Island travels to Saint Joseph's for a three-game series with the Hawks beginning Saturday.