Baseball
First-Place Baseball Wins 10th Straight Conference Game In First Game Of Doubleheader With SBU
April 24, 2004
OLEAN, N.Y. - The University of Rhode Island baseball team defeated St. Bonaventure 8-4 Saturday in the first game of an Atlantic 10 doubleheader between the first and second-place teams in the East Division.
The second game of the doubleheader will begin at about 2:30 p.m.
It was the 10th-straight Atlantic 10 win for the Atlantic 10-leading Rams, who improved to 11-2 in conference play. The victory also improved Rhody's record to 20-15-1 overall, giving them 20 victories for the sixth-straight season. The Rams have won 13 of their last 16 games.
The game was tied 1-1 heading into the fifth inning, when the Rams put three runs on the board. St. Bonaventure (15-14, 6-4 Atlantic 10) responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 4-4, but Rhode Island used five hits, including three doubles to push across four runs in the sixth to take the victory.
Junior Dan Frederick (Dracut, Mass.) earned the complete-game win for the Rams, striking out 10 and only walking one.
Sophomore Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.) went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored, while freshman Scott Brown (Portland, Maine) had two hits and drove in two RBIs and junior Matt Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.) collected two hits, a RBI and run scored.
Sophomore Daryl Holcomb (Wilmington, Del.) went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored and sophomore Josh Nestor (Nashua, N.H.) was 1-for-1 with a RBI and two runs scored.
The Rams broke open the tie game in the sixth, when junior Mike Rainville (Pawtucket, R.I.) led off with a double to left and scored on a double by Sullivan for what proved to be the game-winning run. After sophomore Adam Houston (East Greenwich, R.I.) sacrifice bunted to move Sullivan to third, Nestor followed with the third double of the inning to give the Rams a 6-4 lead.
Freshman Dave Savard (Nashua, N.H.) drew a walk and with two outs, Russo and Brown hit back-to-back RBI singles to give the Rams an 8-4 advantage.
The Rams got on the board in the third inning when Nestor walked and later scored on a RBI-single by Russo.
Rhody broke a 1-1 deadlock in the fifth when Houston had a lead-off single and with two outs Holcomb hit his second homer of the season to give URI a 3-1 lead. Russo drew a walk, stole second and scored on a RBI-single by Brown.
St. Bonaventure tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on a three run homer by Matt Landahl.
