BRISTOL, R.I. – After dropping game one, 7-4, the Roger Williams University Baseball team dominated game two, 11-1 against Curry College at Paolino Field on Friday afternoon. Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) slugged his second home run of the season in the game one loss before Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) dominated on the mound while Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) provided the offense blasting a pair of homers including a grand slam in the game two victory.

Hawk Highlights

Game 1

Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.): 2-for-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI, RS

Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.): 2-for-4, RBI, RS

Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.): 1-for-2, BB, RS

Connor Hewlette (Deer Park, N.Y.): (L, 1-2), 4.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

For The Opponents

Jared Keller (Oxford, Conn.): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 RS

Julian Jaume (Staten Island, N.Y.): 2-for-3, BB, 2 RS

Zachary Wensley (Raynham, Mass.): (W, 2-0), 6.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 5 K

Aaron Diaz (Port St. Lucie, Fla.): (SV, 2), 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB

How It Happened

Game one remained scoreless through the first two and a half innings of play when the Hawks struck first. Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. On the very next offering, Gulino took third, however, the throw by Colonels catcher Dylan Ketterer (Plymouth, Mass.) sailed allowing Gulino to jog home for the first run of the game.

Curry finally got to Roger Williams starter, Connor Hewlette (Deer Park, N.Y.) in the fourth. The Colonels drew back-to-back walks to start the frame before Hewlette attempted a pickoff at second, but his throw went wild allowing both runners to advance 90 feet. Jared Keller (Oxford, Conn.) made him pay by ripping a two-run double down the right field line to give Curry the lead. They would add two more runs in the inning on a single and a fielder's choice to give the visitors a 4-1 advantage.

Neither side would strike again until the seventh. In the top half, Curry loaded the bases with one out before Hawks reliever Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.) uncorked a wild pitch scoring one run. Ketterer followed that up with a two-run single to make the score 7-1.

Roger Williams attempted a comeback in the seventh. Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) drew a leadoff walk and advanced on a wild pitch. Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) brought him home by singling into right field before Jenkins launched a 3-1 pitch over the right field fence for his second long ball of the season. This ended the night of Colonels starter Zachary Wensley (Raynham, Mass.) but Aaron Diaz (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) came on to record the final two outs.

After flying through the first three innings facing only one batter more than the minimum, Hewlette only ended up going 4.2 innings giving up four runs and taking the loss. Earning the victory was Wensley, who despite dealing with a lot of traffic on the base paths allowing seven hits and walking six, he navigated through it for the first 6.1 innings thanks to a pair of timely double plays and seven runners left on base by the Hawks. Diaz recorded the save for the Colonels. 

The loss was the first of the year for the Hawks at Paolino Field.

Coach's Corner

We didn't play extremely well in game on, however, like we always do we fought till the end. Connor Hewlette was great through three however, in the fourth he struggled a little bit, but he pitched well enough to keep us in the game. Offensively we could not string multiple hits together or hit with runners in scoring position and it cost us in the end. A couple guys hit well including, Jenkins who has been seeing it like a beach ball all year. For us, defensively we struggled, which has been our Achilles heel. We are a tough team to beat if we don't beat ourselves. I have been telling the guys since day one, our biggest enemy is the name written across our chest. Bottom line, we need to be better on defense. 

Game 2

Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.): 4-for-4, 2 HR, GS, 6 RBI, 4 RS

Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.): 2-for-3, 3 RBI

Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.): 2-for-3, BB, RBI, 2 RS

Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.): (W, 1-0), 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

For The Opponents

Joan Peralta (Brooklyn, N.Y.): 1-for-3, RBI

Philip Ledwith (Old Saybrook, Conn.): (L, 0-1), 1.2 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB

How It Happened

Unlike game one, the Hawks jumped on the board right away in game two. In the bottom of the first, RWU loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a free pass with two outs bringing up Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.). He proceeded to launch the 2-1 pitch over the wall in left center for his first career grand slam.

RWU added a pair of runs in the second. They once again loaded the bases, this time with no outs and in the process chased Colonels starter Philip Ledwith (Old Saybrook, Conn.). The Hawks capitalized as George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) hit a sacrifice fly to right and then Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.) brought home another run with a single making the score 6-0.

The hosts added another run in the third. Roth led off with a single, he advanced on a Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.) walk before moving up to third on a double play. Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) cashed in by singling into center making the score 7-0 Hawks.

The Colonels finally found some success against Roger Williams starter Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass,) in the fourth by stringing together a trio of singles, the last of which was hit by Joan Peralta (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and scored Dylan Ketterer (Plymouth, Mass.) for what proved to be their only run in the game. Bonavita walked a man to load the bases with one out but he forced a pop up and a fly out to retire the side.

Roger Williams tacked on a pair in the fifth. Roth led off with a single before Hobin ripped a double. After a strikeout, Jackson stepped to the plate and once again he came through knocking a single into right to bring home two runs.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Hawks wrapped up the scoring as Morin reached on a single that deflected off the pitcher's glove with two outs ahead of Roth who took the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for his second homer of the day. By launching his fourth and fifth long balls over the past seven games, Roth recorded not only his first multi-homer game but also set a new career high by driving in six runs and matched a career best with four runs scored.

Bonavita shut down the Colonels in the seventh to finish the Hawks victory by way of a mercy rule. Bonavita allowed just six hits and three walks while striking out four and allowing just the one run. In addition, he recorded his first career complete game and win. Ledwith was tagged with the loss for Curry.

Coach's Corner

Game two was a complete opposite from game one!  We played great in all facets of the game. Ben Bonavita absolutely shoved today. This is his second quality outing and this one really saved our bullpen. Him going a complete game was exactly what we needed.  Offensively, Danny Roth went off with four hits with a grand slam and a two-run homerun.  Danny has been on the cusp of starting to break out and today he did. Jack Morin, Tommy Hobin and Eddie Jackson all had multiple hit games and played extremely well on defense.  It showed in the second game, when we play clean, we are tough to beat.

What's Next

Roger Williams gets to play the Colonels again in a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon, this time in Milton, Mass. First pitch will be at 12:00 PM.