Baseball
Baseball Blanked By Duquesne
March 28, 2004
KINGSTON, R.I. - The University of Rhode Island baseball team dropped the final game of their Atlantic 10 opening series with Duquesne 7-0 Sunday at Bill Beck Field.
Duquesne's Bob Reifschneider picked up the complete-game shutout, striking out seven, scattering five hits and walking two.
Sophomore pitcher Zach Zuercher (Warwick, R.I.) was the losing pitcher for Rhode Island, allowing only two earned runs and striking out 13 batters in 7 2/3 innings, but the season-high seven errors that the Rams committed allowed Duquesne to push across five unearned runs.
Duquesne put three runs on the board in the third inning, taking advantage of a an error on a perfect double play ball. With the bases loaded and two outs, center fielder John Kelly lined a double to the wall in left-center field to clear the bases and put the Dukes up 3-0.
The Dukes (8-10, 2-1 Atlantic 10) added a run in the fifth when the Rams committed two errors on a botched pick-off attempt. The Rams (7-12-1, 1-2 Atlantic 10) committed two errors in the eighth inning that helped Duquesne to push across three more runs.
The Rams managed five hits and only put runners in scoring position in two innings. Rhody's biggest threat to score came in the fifth inning with runners on second and third with two out, but failed to score.
Freshman Scott Brown (Portland, Maine), sophomore Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.), junior Mike Rainville (Pawtucket, R.I.), sophomore Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.) and sophomore Daryl Holcomb (Wilmington, Del.) each had a hit for the Rams.
Duquesne's Jonathan Kelly went 2-for-4 with a three-run double and four RBIs on the game.
Rhode Island plays at Connecticut on Tuesday at 3 p.m. and returns home for a game with Boston College on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
