Baseball Swept at Roger Williams

BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Baseball team finished the weekend 4-0 after sweeping Wentworth in their second doubleheader in as many days, winning the first 4-3 and the second 2-0.

Due to the site change, the Hawks were the away team in the afternoon matchups and were the first to score in the top of the third inning of the first game. Kevin Baker (Wilbraham, Mass.) led off the inning with a single to left for the first hit. An attempted sacrifice bunt by Trevor Larson (Northbridge, Mass.), resulted in a Leopard error and two men on base with no outs for the Hawks.

A wild pitch would advance them to second and third for Mike Pascarella (Milford, Conn.), who struck out but was able to reach first and score Baker on a dropped ball and overthrow to first.

Caulin Rogers (Gloucester, Mass.) hit a long sacrifice fly to center scoring Larson to give the Hawks the 2-0 advantage before Jamie Timothy (Cohasset, Mass.) drove another single to right to bring Pascarella home. A successful steal and wild pitch moved Timothy to third where a Chris Travers (East Freetown, Mass.) hit resulted in the fourth and final run of the game for the Hawks.

The third inning was effective for the Leopards after a leadoff single for Scott Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine). Jon Spitz (Hanover, Mass.) got on base after he was hit by a pitch, and a line drive single to right for Christian Ferri (Bloomfield, N.J.) loaded the bases.

The Leopards scored their first run after Joe Hulme (Tewksbury, Mass.) was also hit by a pitch, bringing Ouellette home. They would score one more time in the inning on a Sam McManus (Hopkinton, N.H.) RBI single to cut the lead to two.

Wentworth would load the bases again in the bottom of the fourth sending home their final run of the game when Hulme was hit by another pitch.

Tyler Pogmore pitched scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh inning to pick up his sixth save of the year and the 23rd for his career, tying him with Billy Dunn '10 for the RWU career record.

Senior Ben Lewis (Middletown, R.I.) was tagged with the loss as he allowd four unearned runs on five hits and struck out five. 

The Hawks struck first again in the second game in the top of second inning. After two straight outs, Joe Hock (Braintree, Mass.) singled to right to get on base. Catcher's interference during Baker's at-bat put runners at first and second and a line drive to left for Larson loaded the bases.

Pascarella was walked to bring in a run giving Roger Williams the 1-0 advantage, still with two outs on the board. Rogers would record an RBI single after a Leopard error scoring the final run of the game for the Hawks before a fly out to right ended the inning with the bases loaded.

The Leopards looked to rally in the bottom half of the inning on two straight singles by McManus and Jordan Burst (Jackson, N.J.), but pitcher George Lund (West Hartford, Conn.) was able to get Roger Williams out of the inning.

The Hawks were able to get a few men on base for the next few innings but could not capitalize on the opportunities.

Wentworth looked to tie the game after getting two runners on base in the bottom of the sixth with a Burst single and Greg Confessore (West Hartford, Conn.) walk, but a pitching change for the Hawks featuring Tyler Winters (Plainfield, Conn.) resulted in an inning-ending strikeout.

The Hawks would leave the bases loaded in the top of the seventh after Travers and Mike Thomas (Plainville, Conn.) recorded singles and Reid Nelson walked.

The Leopards had a promising inning again in the bottom of the seventh after back-to-back one-out singles for Ferri and Ouellette, but Winters closed out the game forcing the next two batters into pop flies, giving Roger Williams the 2-0 win.

Freshman Aaron Denis (Dover, N.H.) was saddled with his first loss of the season (2-1). 

The Hawks play again Thursday the 27th in a home matchup against Eastern Connecticut State. Wentworth will face Eastern Nazarene on the 28th in a doubleheader.