Roger Williams Rallies Past Baseball in CCC Tournament

BRISTOL, R.I. – Sophomore Kevin Baker's (Wilbraham, Mass.) RBI single through the left side in the bottom of the seventh inning snapped a 3-all tie as the second-seeded Roger Williams University baseball team staved off elimination with a 4-3 victory over sixth-seeded Wentworth in an elimination round game of the 2014 Commonwealth Coast Conference Baseball Tournament.

The Hawks, who rallied from a 3-0 deficit, improve to 23-15 on the season and will face Gordon in a re-match of Friday's opening round game which was won by the Fighting Scots, 15-4. Gordon was defeated by third-seeded Western New England, 15-1, to move to the loser's bracket. Wentworth sees its season come to an end with a 15-18 record.

Wentworth did all of its scoring in the fourth inning as junior Joe Hulme (Tewksbury, Mass.) reached on an error to open the inning and went to second on a single off the bat of classmate Jake Mailman (Medway, Mass.). Both runners moved up 90 feet on a freshman Jordan Burst (Jackson, N.J.) groundout. After sophomore Sam McManus (Hopkinton, N.H.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases, sophomore Greg Confessore (West Hartford, Conn.) reached on Roger Williams' second miscue of the inning which allowed Hulme to score. Mailman came home to score on a junior Scott Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine) sacrifice fly and McManus would score the third Leopard run on an RBI single off the bat of senior Paul Dassau (Franklin, Mass.).

Roger Williams pulled within a run in the bottom of the fifth as junior Reid Nelson (Wallingford, Conn.) led off with a single through the left side and senior Mike Thomas (Plainville, Conn.) blasted his second home run of the season to right field.

The Leopards had chances in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to add to their lead, however would leave two runners on in each of those innings. In the top of the seventh as Mailman was hit by a pitch with one out and McManus drew a two-out walk. The Hawks brought in senior closer Tyler Pogmore (Lebanon, Conn.), who got a strikeout to end the threat.

Junior Chris Travers (East Freetown, Mass.) beat out an infield single to lead off the home half of the seventh and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Nelson. Thomas followed with a single through the left side, which moved Travers to third. On the play, Travers would score the tying run on a fielding error, which also allowed Thomas to go to second. After a wild pitch moved Thomas to third, Baker delivered the go-ahead run.

Wentworth got a leadoff walk from Ouellette in the eighth, however, Pogmore struck out the next three batters and set the side down in order in the ninth to record his ninth save of the season.

Senior Sean Boyle (Arlington, Mass.) picked up the win to improve to 7-1 as he allowed three unearned runs on six hits, walked two, and struck out six. Pogrmore didn't allow a hit, walked one, and struck out four in 2.1 innings in relief.

Thomas and sophomore Caulin Rogers (Gloucester, Mass.) had two hits apiece with Thomas driving in two runs.

Senior Ben Lewis (Middletown, R.I.) fell to 2-5 as he closed out his career allowing four runs (two earned) on eight hits, walked one, and struck out a pair. Freshman Zack Bernier (North Dartmouth, Mass.) pitched a scoreless eighth, striking out one. Dassau paced the offense with two hits in his final contest.