SPRINGFIELD, Mass.- Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.), Connor Hewlette (Deer Park, N.Y.), and the rest of the pitching staff continued their run of dominance before the offense exploded scoring 23 runs on 19 hits and 17 walks as the Roger Williams University Baseball team swept a doubleheader against Western New England University on Saturday afternoon at Trelease Park.
Garcia threw 5.2 innings of one-run baseball and struck out ten, while Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) provided a clutch two-run triple as the Hawks took game one, 3-1. Then in game two, Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) launched a home run and Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.) had a trio of extra base hits and drove in four runs to give RWU a 23-2, mercy rule victory.
The 23 runs scored in the second game are the third most runs scored in a single game in program history and is the most since they scored 32 runs against New England College in 2003.
The Hawks improve to 14-4 on the season, good for their best start since 2014, and also move to 8-2 in Commonwealth Coast Conference play. In addition, they have now won six consecutive games and nine of their last ten.
Hawk Highlights
Game 1
Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.): 1-for-3, 3 SB, RS
Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.): 1-for-3, 3B, 2 RBI
Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.): (W, 3-0), 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 10 K
Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.): (SV, 4), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
For The Opponents
Cody Waterbury (Danbury, Conn.): 2-for-2, BB, RBI
Clay Tucker (Chelmsford, Mass.): (L, 0-1), 5.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 5 K
How It Happened
The Hawks offense struck right away against WNE starter Clay Tucker (Chelmsford, Mass.). Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) led off by getting hit by a pitch and promptly stole second and third base. A walk to Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) put runners on the corners for Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.). He grounded out to second but Gulino came home on the play giving RWU a 1-0 advantage just three batters into the game.
Neither squad would get on the scoreboard again until the fourth. With one out, George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) singled and Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) drew a free pass. After a strikeout, Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) stepped up and he blasted his first career triple to right field plating a pair of runs and extending the Hawks advantage to three.
The Golden Bears finally broke through against Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.) in the home half of the sixth. With one out, they drew back-to-back walks ahead of Cody Waterbury (Danbury, Conn.). He proceeded to notch a single scoring WNE's first run of the game. Following a strikeout and another walk to load the base, RWU turned to Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.) who picked up a huge strikeout to escape the jam.
Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.) pitched the seventh and struck out the side to lock down the Hawks victory.
Garcia navigated through a lot of traffic on the basepaths by way of four hits and five walks in his outing, but he only allowed the one run and struck out ten along the way to pick up his third win of the season. Flynn's perfect seventh earned him the save, his fourth of the year.
For WNE, Tucker did a decent job keeping the Hawks offense at bay across five innings. He struck out five and only allowed three hits, but he also allowed five walks. All three runs were charged to him as he took the loss.
Coach's Corner
Joey Gulino has been a great lead-off hitter for us. He is on base all the time and he led off with a great at-bat and eventually was hit by a pitch. Every time he gets on, he is a force on the bases. He stole second, stole third, and Jenkins came through with a ground ball to the right side. We have been preaching all year to do the little things right. Get on, move him up, move him over, and get him in. We did exactly that in inning one and we never looked back. Ben Bonavita gave us some insurance runs with a triple in the right-center gap. Justin Garcia had another great start striking out ten and handed it to our bullpen who locked it down. Great win for us!
Game 2
Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.): 3-for-4, 2 2B, 3B, BB, 4 RBI, 2 RS
Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.): 2-for-3, 2B, 3 BB, 2 RBI, 5 RS
Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.): 1-for-3, HR, 3 BB, 4 RBI, 3 RS
Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.): 4-for-5, 2B, 4 RBI, RS
Connor Hewlette (Deer Park, N.Y.): (W, 2-2), 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
For The Opponents
Mack Palmer (Princeton Junction, N.J.): 2-for-2, RS
Zach Snow (Charlestown, R.I.): 1-for-2, 2B, RBI, RS
Brandon Kuhl (Southington, Conn.): (L, 0-1), 2.0+ IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 7 BB, 0 K
How It Happened
Brandon Kuhl (Southington, Conn.) kept the Hawks offense in check across the first two innings working around six total baserunners. However, when the birds broke through in the third, they piled it on. Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) started the inning with a single before Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.), George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.), and Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) all drew walks, the last of which forced home a run. This prompted a pitching change for the Golden Bears as Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.) came up to bat. He ripped a single into right that plated a pair of runs before Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) accepted a free pass to load the bases again. With Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.) at the plate, a wild pitch allowed Roth to score Hobin scorched a double to score Morin. Another wild pitch brought Massaro home and advanced Hobin to third with Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) batting. He singled to plate another run. Later in the inning, Somers contributed a run-scoring single to center to make the score 8-0 RWU.
In total, the Hawks scored eight runs on five walks and six hits while sending 13 batters to the plate in the frame.
Despite the eight runs being more than enough for Roger Williams starter Connor Hewlette (Deer Park, N.Y.) on the afternoon, they added a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Jackson, then two more in the fifth on a two-run double off the bat of Hobin.
In the sixth, the Hawks offense put together another big inning. With one out, Cedeno walked and Jenkins singled ahead of the pinch hitter. He proceeded to blast his second triple of the afternoon, scoring a pair of runs. Back-to-back walks brought up Massaro who brought home a run on a fielder's choice during which the Golden Bears did not get an out. During the proceedings, Roth also scored on an error. Morin came home on a wild pitch before Jackson chased home Massaro on a single to the opposite field to make the score 17-0.
In the seventh, the Hawks added even more runs. CJ Casalino (Bristol, R.I.) and London Camelo (Bristol, R.I.) each pinch hit and each reached base to start the inning setting the stage for Roth. He then launched his sixth home run of the season to left field. The long ball was also the 20th of his career bringing him even with Grant Bolin '10 for the most in program history. Later in the inning, Hobin added an RBI triple, Jackson contributed a run-scoring double, and Casalino plated yet another run on a single.
While the Roger Williams offense was busy rounding the bases time after time, Hewlette was busy carving up the WNE lineup. They finally got to him with two outs in the seventh. Zach Snow (Charlestown, R.I.) recorded an RBI double and then they got another run on an error however it was far too little, far too late as the Hawks finished the mercy rule victory.
Hewlette threw his first complete game of the season for the Hawks as he went all seven innings striking out eight and allowing just the two runs, one of them earned, on six hits and one walk earning the victory to improve to 2-2 on the season. Kohl was the first of five arms to pitch for the Golden Bears, he threw 2.0+ innings, allowing four runs on only three hits but also seven walks and took the loss.
Coach's Corner
Connor Hewlette had a phenomenal bounce back start! He dominated hitters and was in command the entire game. The tale of the tape was our hitters. We swung the bat well 1-9. Danny Roth had a bomb that tied him for the lead for career home runs. He is starting to swing the bat well for us and if he really gets going, we are going to be a scary lineup. This was a total team effort today!!
What's Next
The Hawks will face off against the Golden Bears again on Sunday, April 11 for a doubleheader. Due to weather, the first pitch of game one will be 10:30 AM.