Baseball takes one apiece from Sacred Heart, UConn; falls to Northeastern

04/23/09 - The University of Rhode Island baseball team resumed a stint of non-conference play early this week falling 12-1 to Northeastern University, defeating Sacred Heart University, 7-4, and the University of Connecticut 3-1. Wednesday's game made six in a row for the Rams who have played seven games in eight days.

"It wasn't a bad week," head coach Jim Foster said. "I'm proud of my guys. They gutted out this week and hopefully we can get some good weather this weekend."

Rhody fell to Northeastern 12-1 on Monday after a stellar pitching performance by the Huskies' JT Ross. Ross went the distance, allowing only one hit, a double by sophomore Jeff Cammans in the top of the second inning.

Cammans also provided the only run for Rhody after he stole third and scored on a groundout in the same inning.

Northeastern broke out 12 runs on 15 hits off of junior starter Dan Rossignol, redshirt freshman Ross Davis, freshman Anthony Pisani and sophomore Cam Fox.

The damage could have been worse had it not been for a highlight reel grab by sophomore centerfielder Kenny Burns in the bottom of the sixth. Burns leapt high above the wall, robbing Northeastern's Mike Tamsin of a solo homerun and hung on as the gate along the wall swung open. The grab was good enough for number two on Sports Center's top 10 plays on April 21.

"It wasn't a great day for us, but that catch was as good as it gets," Foster said.

After the loss, the Rams resumed action the following day and downed Sacred Heart in a rain-shortened, 7-4 victory.

Sophomore Chris Pickering got the start in front of the home crowd, fanning his season-high eight batters in five complete innings of play.

Burns led the offensive attack while registering two hits, but it was senior Dan Rhault who stole the show with his fourth career grand slam in the bottom of the second.

After Pickering retired the first four batters in a row, Sacred Heart got on the board first on a solo shot by Mike Olyzyk.

Rhody answered back with six runs in the bottom of the second, highlighted by Rhault's four-bagger.

With two outs and the bases loaded, sophomore Pete Mastors slapped a single through the right side, scoring freshman Mike LeBel and Cammans. Junior Oliver Palmer was then plunked, loading the bases and setting up Rhault for the slam. The homerun was Rhault's seventh of the year.

The Pioneers answered back with two more runs in the top of the third, but an RBI groundout by Palmer in the bottom of the fourth would put Rhody up 6-3.

Sacred Heart pushed across its final run in the top of the fifth on a single by Phil Tantillo, scoring Mike Drowne to make it 7-4 Rhode Island.

After a 30-minute rain delay, both teams attempted to continue the contest before umpires cut it short in the top of the sixth.

Pickering earned the win to improve to 5-2 on the year while freshman Sam VandenHeuvel notched his first career save.

The rain continued into Wednesday afternoon, albeit not enough to halt the contest with UConn.

Sophomore Ken Graveline pitched seven strong innings of one-run baseball while setting down seven Huskies via strikeout.

The Rams used small ball as Palmer registered the only extra base hit of the day for URI.

Rhody jumped on the board first in the bottom of the second as sophomore Tom Coulombe scored on a Rob DeVeney groundball double play.

UConn scored its only run of the game in the top of the fourth as Mike Nemeth found the left centerfield gap for a double, scoring teammate George Springer who walked and then bunted over by Peter Fatse.

The Rams scored their second run on a sacrifice fly by freshman Milan Adams, scoring DeVeney from third. Rhody added its third and final run in the seventh, again thanks to Adams who singled through the left side to score LeBel.

Connecticut's only other scoring opportunity came in the top of the seventh with runners on first and third and one out. Junior Mark Fraser came on to relieve Graveline and immediately induced a 4-6-3 double play to snuff out the rally.

Senior Luke Demko came on in the ninth and shut the door to earn his 10th save of the season. Demko now holds Rhody's single-season save record and leads the Atlantic 10.

"If there's anyone that deserves it, it's Luke," Foster said. "He works his tail off and really is a bulldog out there."

The win improves URI to 26-13-1, which is good enough for first place in the A-10 while UConn falls to 22-17.

Rhody's next contest will be Friday, April 24 as they travel to Philadelphia, Pa. to take on conference-foe Saint Joseph's University. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.