Baseball
Hagey Leads Offensive Attack in 11-6 Win at Radford
March 17, 2008
RADFORD, Va. - Senior Shaun Hagey (Ephrata, Pa.) went 4-for-4 with four runs and an RBI as the Rhode Island baseball team took care of Radford, 11-6, Monday afternoon at Dedmon Center Park. Both Hagey and sophomore Rob Deveney (Marlton, N.J.) crushed homeruns for the Rams while freshman Chris Pickering (Lincoln, R.I.) earned his first career victory, pitching 4.1 innings with just one earned run.
Radford took a 1-0 lead in the first inning but Rhody wasted little time getting on the board, plating two runs in its next at bat. Hagey got things started with a one-out single up the middle before advancing to third on sophomore Oliver Palmer's (North Kingston, R.I.) base hit to right center. Classmate John Rusin (East Amherst, N.Y.) was then walked to set up freshman Casey Ide's (Alexandria, Va.) RBI single to right. Classmate Kenny Burns (Shelton, Conn.) followed with a sac-fly to right field that scored Palmer and put URI on top, 2-1.
Deveney extended the Rams' lead the following inning, with a two-out shot over the left field fence.
The Highlanders reclaimed the lead (4-3) with a three-run third inning and tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth before Hagey and Palmer crossed the plate to tie things up at 5-5 in the top of the sixth.
The following inning, senior Zach Zaneski (Waterford, Conn.) reached first on an infield error and stole second to get into scoring position for Deveney, who used a single up the middle to plate Zaneski, while picking up his second RBI of the afternoon. Hagey then moved Deveney over to third with a double down the right field line and both runners scored on Palmer's double to left.
Radford scored its final run in the bottom of the seventh - pulling to within two (8-6) - but the Rams scored three more runs in the final two innings to take the 11-6 victory.
Pickering, who relieved starter Dan Rossignol (Nashua, N.H.) after two innings, gave up six hits and two runs (one earned) to earn his first collegiate win. Sophomore Tim Boyce (Swansea, Mass.) was credited with the save after throwing 2.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and just two hits. Radford's John Lloyd was charged with the loss.
The Rams (6-8) return to action tomorrow afternoon, when they travel to Williamsburg, Va. to take on former URI head coach Frank Leoni and the William & Mary Tribe at 5 p.m.
