BRISTOL, R.I. – Beacons baseball continued their win-streak as they earned their eighth straight following a 9-2 win over Roger Williams University giving longtime head coach Brendan Eygabroat his 300th career victory as the Beacons skipper Wednesday afternoon at Paolino Field.
THE BASICS
#8/8 UMass Boston 9, Roger Williams University 2
UMass Boston (19-5)
Roger Williams University (10-12)
HOW IT HAPPENED
With Wednesday's win Eygabroat became just the second coach in UMass Boston history to reach the 300-win milestone. Former hall of fame men's basketball coach Charlie Titus was the first coach to break 300 wins and stands as the winningest coach in UMB history.
In his now 14 seasons on the harbor campus, Eygabroat stands as the most successful coach Beacons baseball history. Included on his resume is two Little East Conference Tournament championships and two NCAA Regional crowns (2010 & 2017). Eygabroat's Beacons also became the first program in UMB history to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament (2016), and the number one ranking in the country.
Junior infielder Kyle Boudrias (Medford, Mass.) also recorded a career milestone in the victory, as he earned his 150th career hit, an RBI double in the top of the ninth. Boudrias becomes just the ninth player in program history to achieve the career mark.
For the second straight game, UMB used six runs through the first five innings to take control of the non-conference contest. Along with a strong showing on the hill by Josh Gerson (Melville, N.Y.), UMB allowed just one run through the first five innings. The righty allowed the lone run on three hits, and had one strikeout and surrendered just three walks to improve to 2-0 on the year.
Nick Herzog (Riverhead, N.Y.) knocked-in the first run of the day on an RBI single up the middle in the top of the first inning. Wanderson Pinales (Bani, D.R.) registered his second extra base hit in the last two games on an RBI double in the second inning, to make it 2-0 in favor of the Beacons. Herzog would strike again in the third with another single, that plated Dave Murphy (Plymouth, Mass.). After a lone run by RWU made it 3-1, the Beacons pushed their lead to four with an RBI single by Ryan McCormick (Cumberland, R.I.) and Chris Fowler (Barnstable, Mass.) in the top half of the fourth.
A successful double steal in the fifth inning saw Danny Brown (Hudson, N.H.) take home plate to push UMB's lead to 6-1. The Beacons offensive surge would stall until the ninth inning when they tacked on three more runs with Boudrias knocking in one run, while Pinales drove in two runs on a single to give UMB a 9-1 lead.
RWU would score their final run of the day in the final inning, but any comeback was immediately silenced by Chris Munro (Marshfield, Mass.), who allowed the one run on two hits. He also had a pair of K's. Joe Maguire (Peabody, Mass.) and Sal Frosceno (Derby, Conn.) were also solid on the hill as the two did not allow a hit, while recording a combined four strikeouts over three complete innings.
BY THE NUMBERS
- With the win the Beacons and Hawks split their regular season series; RWU is just one of three teams from New England that has handed UMB a loss in 2018
- All-time the Beacons are now 11-5 against RWU and have won back-to-back games in Rhode Island
- Pinales led the Beacons at the plate with a 3-for-5 day with included three RBI and a run scored; He was also one of four Beacons to record a double
WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will host Babson College tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. at Mona Park.