MILTON, Mass.- The trio of Kyle Schaefer (Madison, Conn.), Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.), and Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.) combined to throw 14 innings of two hit baseball while the offense did its' job and then some to give the Roger Williams University Baseball team a pair of wins over Curry College at the Jack Vallely Diamond in Milton, Massechussetts on Saturday. Following Ben Bonavita's (East Longmeadow, Mass.) complete game allowing just one run yesterday, Schaefer one-upped his teammate throwing a complete game shutout while Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) blasted his second homer in as many days to give the Hawks a 3-0 win in game one. Garcia followed that up with a terrific outing of his own while the RWU offense thrived in a 14-0, mercy rule victory in game two.

Hawk Highlights

Game 1

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

George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.): 1-for-2, RBI

Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.): 1-for-4, RBI

Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.): 0-for-2, 2 SB, 2 BB, RS

Kyle Schaefer (Madison, Conn.): (W, 2-0), 7.0 IP, CG, SO, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

For The Opponents

Dylan Ketterer (Plymouth, Mass.): 1-for-3

Jack Needham (Raynham, Mass.): (L, 0-2), 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

How It Happened

Hitting the road for the first time in a week, the Hawks waisted little time getting on the board. Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) drew a leadoff walk and proceeded to steal both second and third base. A Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) free pass put runners on the corners with one out for George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) who lifted one in the air to center field that was deep enough to plate Gulino and give RWU the 1-0 advantage.

In the bottom of both the first and second innings, the Colonels got their leadoff batter on base. In the first, Julian Jaume (Staten Island, N.Y.) got hit by a pitch by Hawks starter Kyle Schaefer (Madison, Conn.) and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt but as it turned out, that would be as close as Curry would come to scoring a run in the game. Then in the second, Dylan Ketterer (Plymouth, Mass.) notched a leadoff single but got stranded thanks to a strikeout and a pair of fly outs.

Neither squad would score again until the sixth inning when with two outs, Jenkins took a 1-1 pitch and deposited it over the fence for his second home run in as many days and his third long ball of the season. This gave Roger Williams a 2-0 lead.

The Hawks added another insurance run in the seventh. With two outs, Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) and Gulino drew walks ahead of Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) who knocked a single into left scoring Jackson and enlarging the advantage to three.

In the home half of the seventh, Curry finally snapped Schaefer's streak of 15 consecutive batters retired following Ketterer's single in the second, when Jason Leonard (Dedham, Mass.) drew a walk to start the inning. However, he was erased by a double play before Ketterer flew out to end the game.

Schaefer went the distance allowing just three baserunners on one hit, one hit batsman, and one walk while striking out three in the second complete game shutout of his career. Along the way he faced only two batters more than the minimum and he earned his second win of the season for his efforts.

Jack Needham (Raynham, Mass.) pitched well over six innings of two-run baseball for the hosts, but he was tagged with the loss.

Coach's Corner

We came into this game not knowing what to expect from our pitchers. With the doubleheader from last Sunday rescheduled to Tuesday, it put our pitchers in a tough spot. We had planned to start and possibly extend Kyle Schaefer, but were thinking it would be a staff day. Not the case! Kyle threw a complete game one-hit shutout only throwing 81 pitches. He really stepped up today for us. Super proud of him. He is one of those guys that just wants the ball. Offensively Brandon Jenkins had another multi-hit game and George Somers continued to swing the bat well.

Game 2

Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.): 2-for-4, 2B, BB, 3 RBI, 3 RS

George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.): 3-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 RS

Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.): 2-for-3, 2B, BB, 2 RBI, RS

Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 SB, 1 BB, RBI, 2 RS

Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.): (W, 2-0), 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K

For The Opponents

Ryan Goonan (Raynham, Mass.): 1-for-2

Michael Mulrean (Easton, Mass.): (L, 0-2), 0.1 IP, 0 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 0 K

How It Happened

Once again, the Hawks got right to work offensively in game two. Their first three batters reached in the first on a pair of walks and a hit batsman to load the bases against Curry starter Michael Mulrean (Easton, Mass.). George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) grounded into a fielder's choice to third that saw Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) forced out at the plate but then Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) drew a free pass to force in Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) and RWU scored their first run of the contest without the benefit of a hit. This resulted in Mulrean getting pulled in favor of Ryan Williams (Waltham, Mass.). He was greeted by Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.) who ripped a two-run single into center. Two batters later, Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) clubbed a two-bagger that scored two more and the Hawks had a quick 5-0 advantage.

RWU put together another big inning in the fourth. Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Massaro got it started with back-to-back singles and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.). This flipped the lineup back to the top for Gulino who singled home Bonavita and then recorded his fourth steal of the doubleheader putting a pair of runners in scoring position for Cedeno. He responded by drilling one into left center to bring home two more runs and prompt a pitching change. Later in the frame, Somers notched a run-scoring single to give the visitors a 9-0 lead.

The Hawks offense erupted again in the sixth inning. Gulino and Cedeno ripped back-to-back doubles to open the frame before Jenkins drew a walk. Somers punched his second run-scoring single of the game into center to score Cedeno. Roth drew a free pass forcing the Colonels to go to the bullpen again. Their fifth hurler of the game, Jacobi Bouchard (Bristol, Conn.) then unleashed a wild pitch that allowed all three runners to advance including Jenkins, who crossed the plate. Bouchard retired the next two men before Massaro walked and the Hawks sent up Jacob Rainey (Stratford, Conn.) as a pinch hitter. He reached on an error as a pair of runs scored on the play to make the score 14-0.

The offense plated 14 runs on 11 hits in the game while sending at least all nine men to the plate three different times.

On the mound, Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.) picked up right where Schaefer left off in game one. He allowed just one hit, a Ryan Goonan (Raynham, Mass.) infield single to second base in the third inning, while walking three and striking out ten across six innings of work to earn the victory and improve to 2-0 on the season. Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.) pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to wrap up the Hawks victory by virtue of a mercy rule.

Mulrean was the first of six pitchers to get the ball for Curry and while he did not allow a hit in his outing, he did walk three, hit a batter, recorded only one out, and was charged with four runs, as he took the loss.

Coach's Corner

Justin Garcia dominated Curry's hitters today. He challenged them with his fastball all game and they had no answer for him. His stuff was electric, and he is fun to watch when he is on. He only allowed one hit, had ten K's on the day, and the lone hit was a ground ball to second that was ruled a hit.  Offensively, we exploded for 14 runs finishing the second game by mercy rule. George Somers, Tyler Cedeno, and Joey Gulino led the way offensively. We are a tough team to beat when we play defense and we played great on that side of the ball today. The story of the day was pitching! Whenever your staff allows two hits in 14 innings you are going to be set up for success. That's what happened today.

What's Next

The Hawks get a few days off before they wrap up their season series with the Colonels as they will made the trip back up to Milton, Massechussetts for a mid-week showdown on Wednesday. First pitch will be at 3:00 PM.