Baseball
Pair of Four-Run Rallies Earn Rams an Extra-Innings Win and a Comeback Tie at Richmond
April 19, 2008
RICHMOND, Va. - The Rhode Island baseball team used a four-run 12th inning to rally past Richmond, 16-12, in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Pitt Field before plating four runs in the top of the ninth to tie the Spiders, 8-8, in game two. The second game was called after nine innings due to darkness and is officially declared a tie.
Offensively, the Rams were led by senior Mike O'Malley (Nashua, N.H.), who batted in six runs on six hits - including two doubles and two homeruns - in the doubleheader.
In game one, Rhody took a quick 4-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run double by O'Malley, an RBI ground out by sophomore Rob Deveney (Marlton, N.J.) and a run-scoring single by sophomore Dan Rhault (Lincoln, R.I.). The Rams tacked on another in the top of the third when Rhault singled to right to score Zach Zaneski (Waterford, Conn.) and give URI a five-run advantage.
The lead was short live though, as Richmond came back and plated eight runs in the bottom of the inning to go up, 8-5.
Freshmen Tom Coulombe (Lincoln, R.I.) and Pete Mastors (Narragansett, R.I.) each crossed the plate the following inning but the Spiders plated three more runs in their next three as-bats to lead 11-7 after six complete innings.
In the top of the sixth, Rhault drove in Zaneski before Mastors' two-run single to right plated Deveney and Rhault to make the score 11-10. O'Malley then sent a two-run eighth-inning bomb over the left field fence to put the Rams on top, 12-11, but Richmond tied things up with an unearned run in the bottom of the frame.
After a scoreless ninth, 10th and 11th, Coulombe opened the 12th with a single to center and moved to second on a Mastors bunt single. Sophomore Oliver Palmer (North Kingstown, R.I.) followed with a sacrifice bunt to move both Coulombe and Mastors into scoring position. The Spiders then intentionally walked Hagey, setting up Zaneski's three-run double off the top of the wall in right-center. O'Malley was next, cracking his fourth hit of the game to score Zaneski and give Rhody the 16-12 lead.
Sophomore Tim Boyce (Swansea, Mass.) went on to retire three of the final four Richmond batters, earning the win and giving the Rams their eighth-straight victory.
Trailing 5-0 after three innings in game two, O'Malley put the Rams on the board with a solo homerun in the top of the fourth before sophomore Zoey Angulo's (Miami, Fla.) solo shot made it 5-2 after six innings. A two-run seventh-inning single by Coulombe got URI within one (5-4) before the Spiders tallied three more for an 8-4 lead after eight innings.
In keeping with theme, the Rams used another four-run rally to get back in the game in the top of the ninth as freshman pinch-hitter Evan Laude (Long Beach, N.Y.) sent O'Malley and Zaneski across the plate on a double down the right field line before taking third on a wild pitch and scoring on Coulombe's sac-fly to center. Freshman pinch-hitter Jeff Cammans (Jamestown, R.I.) then crushed a two-out, first-pitch homerun over the right field fence to knot the game at 8-8.
Junior Luke Demko (Gilford, N.H.) got the Spiders with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth, before the game was called due to darkness, ending things at a standstill. Because Atlantic 10 policy states that the final game of any A-10 series is exempt from the league's suspended-game policy, the game will not be resumed on Sunday and will be officially declared a tie.
The Rams (19-19-1) return to action on Tuesday afternoon, when they travel to Sacred Heart for a 3 p.m. game against the Pioneers.
