AUBERNDALE, Fla. – The arms for the Roger Williams University Baseball team dominated again striking out 15 on their way to a second-consecutive shutout, beating the University of Mount Union, 4-0 in the opening contest of their Spring Break Trip at the Russmatt Baseball Complex. Graduate student starter Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.) fanned seven over the first five and a third before the combination of senior Anthony Sapienza (North Andover, Mass.), freshman Lucas Lariviere (Cumberland, R.I.), and senior Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.) locked it down with 3.2 innings of hitless baseball out of the bullpen.
RWU, who was the designated home team at the neutral site contest, improved to 2-0 on the young season with the win. Meanwhile, the Purple Raiders fall under .500 at 4-5 overall.
Junior left fielder Christopher Flynn (Randolph, N.J.) did it all to kickstart the offense collecting two hits and a steal while scoring one run and driving in another while graduate student first baseman Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) added two more RBIs.
Garcia went 5.1 innings allowing just a pair of hits and no runs though he did walk four men against the seven strikeouts he compiled. His performance was nonetheless good for his first win of the season and 12th of his career leaving him just one win shy of breaking into the top-ten in program history.
Senior right-hander Carson Davis (Louisville, Kent.) got the nod for Mount Union and went 4.2 innings striking out five but dealt with a lot of traffic by way of six hits and three walks resulting in four runs allowed, three of them earned.
Hawk Highlights
Christopher Flynn: 2-for-3, SB, RBI, RS
Brandon Jenkins: 0-for-3, 2 RBI
Andrew DeClement: 0-for-1, 2 BB, RS
Mike Masino: 1-for-3, SB
Justin Garcia: (W, 1-0), 5.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 K
For The Opponents
Joey Nave: 1-for-3, BB
Brian Livolsi: 1-for-4,
Walker Marlowe: 0-for-2, 3 BB
Dwayne Sumler: 0-for-2, SB, BB
Carson Davis: (L, 0-2), 4.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
How It Happened
Following a lengthy delay due to the double-header scheduled before the contest running long, and then an uneventful top of the first, Roger Williams would waste little time getting on the board. Graduate Student center fielder Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) got an infield hit into the shortstop hole and advanced to second on an errand throw. Two productive outs later and Cedeno crossed the plate on a Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) groundout to make the score 1-0.
The bottom of the lineup would make things happen with two down in the second. Senior second baseman Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.) got things started by ripping a two-strike single back through the box before senior catcher Andrew DeClement (Cheshire, Conn.) drew a free pass setting up Christopher Flynn (Randolph, N.J.). He would slap a single through and into left to plate Hobin to make the advantage two runs.
Mount Union squandered a good scoring opportunity in the visiting half of the third. Senior Joey Nave (Toronto, Ohio) blooped a leadoff single into right to open the inning but was gunned down trying to steal second. A pair of free passes ensued before a chopper over the mount was tipped by Garcia. Hobin did recover the redirected ball and got the man at first but there were two runners in scoring position, nonetheless. Garcia would escape the jam however by freezing graduate student first basemen Trey Weaver (Franklin, Pa.) looking.
The Hawks doubled their lead in the fifth and it was once again the bottom of the order that lit the fuse. DeClement got things started by falling behind in the count 0-2 but proceeded to battle and earned a 13-pitch walk. With the dugout still energized from the terrific at bat, Flynn ripped a single into right that allowed DeClement to go first-to-third. Cedeno was retired and junior third baseman Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) drew a walk to load the bases for Jenkins. He would plate DeClement with a sacrifice fly to center ahead of sophomore designated hitter Nick Zobian (Califon, N.J.) who would plate Flynn from second on a single through the left side. The Purple Raiders would make a change on the mound as they turned to graduate student Ryan Osman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) to stop the bleeding and whil he did so, the damage was done.
Mount Union had a golden chance to close the gap in the top of the eighth. Anthony Sapienza (North Andover, Mass.) distributed a pair of walks on either side of a ground out on a dribbler in front of the plate to put two men on base. He would give way to freshman right-hander Lucas Lariviere (Cumberland, R.I.) who, after shaking off some first collegiate appearance jitters by walking the leadoff man to load the bases, proceeded to strike out junior designated hitter Zack Mazza (Flint, Mich.) looking and induced a slow roller to second to keep the guests scorelee.
Senior southpaw Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.) would walk a man but struck out three in the ninth to close out the Roger Williams victory.
As a whole, the RWU bullpen dominated across 3.2 combined innings of work piling up eight K's while not allowing a hit although they did surrender four walks. Sapienza did the bulk of the work recording 2.0 innings across one complete inning and two partial frames, striking out a quartet of Purple Raiders along the way.
Coach's Corner
Pitching was the name of the game again for us, they catapulted us to a win today. We want to clean some things up, we issued a few too many walks. We want to be in an attack mindset on the mound because when we do that, we have success.
Offensively, our hits were timely. We executed with runners in scoring position, particularly with two outs but we need to put more pressure on the defense by putting the ball in play more consistently.
All in all, it is a good start to our Spring Break trip and we look forward to getting back at it tomorrow.
What's Next
Roger Williams will get right back at it tomorrow afternoon for a doubleheader against Anna Maria College. The start time got shifted up to 12:40 for game one against the Amcats.