BRISTOL, R.I. – Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) was a jack-of-all-trades, hitting a home run and locking down a six-out save for the Roger Williams University Baseball team in a tight, 4-3 victory over Babson College on a blustery Bristol afternoon at Paolino Field on Thursday. Christopher Flynn (Randolph, N.J.) also went yard for the Hawks to back

Connor Hewlette's (Deer Park, N.Y.) strong 6.1 innings of work on the bump.

Playing in a matchup between consensus top-five teams in the region for the second-consecutive day, RWU once again came out on top to sweep their difficult mid-week slate to improve to 15-1 on the spring. The Beavers on the other hand, fall to 9-6 on the year.

Hewlette had his best and longest outing of the season on the mound for the Hawks to earn the win and improve to 3-0. He went 6.1 innings allowing two runs but neither of them were earned, on six hits and three walks while striking out three. Bonavita quite literally came out of right field to lock down the six-out save, the first of his career. Griffin Cofsky (Walpole, Mass.) was the first of four pitchers to see action for Babson on the day going the first four innings allowing three runs, all of them earned, on six hits and two walks while fanning four but he took the loss to fall to 0-2.

Hawk Highlights

Christopher Flynn: 2-for-4, 2B, HR, RBI, RS

Ben Bonavita: 1-for-3, HR, RBI, RS

Matt Massaro: 1-for-3, BB, RBI, RS

Brandon Jenkins: 1-for-4, RBI

Connor Hewlette: (W/L, #-#), 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K

Ben Bonavita: (SV, 1), 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

For The Opponents

Tanner Santos: 2-for-3, BB, RS

Jack Pirkl: 2-for-4, RS

Andrew Dembowski: 1-for-5, RBI

Michael Cool: 2-for-4

Griffin Cofsky: (L, 0-2), 4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

How It Happened

In a game that required a mere two hours and ten minutes to complete, the first inning was fairly lengthy as Babson threatened right away against Connor Hewlette (Deer Park, N.Y.). Andrew Dembowski (Danvers, Mass.) got it going with a single to right-center and Thomas Lapham (Charlestown, Mass.) drew a walk before Josh Yellen (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) rolled over into a fielders choice. Francis Kiely (Falmouth, Maine) got plunked to load the bases ahead of Sean Burychka (Mount Laurel, N.J.). He proceeded to ground one to third that Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) threw home to cut down the runner at the plate, doing so successfully, then Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.) was able to tag out the batter who was still standing in the home plate area presumably because he thought that he fouled the ball off of his foot. In any case, Roger Williams was out of the inning with no harm done.

In the home half, Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) singled and Massaro drew a walk to get things going, but a failed double-steal erased Cedeno at third though Massaro moved into scoring position with Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) at the dish. He would take advantage, dumping a single into right-center and the Hawks had a first inning run for the eighth time this season.

RWU got another one in the second as Mike Masino (Bayville, N.J.) singled, Cedeno walked, and Massaro brought in the run with a single though and into right. Then in the fifth the Hawks extended their advantage as with one out, Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) took the first pitch he saw to the deepest part of the park, as the ball sailed through the Bristol breeze, crashing onto the yellow plastic tubing and over the fence for his second home run of the season.

Meanwhile, on the mound, Hewlette settled in retiring eight of the next 11 men he faced with the second of the three double plays that the RWU defense turned mixed in, but he ran into trouble in the fifth. Tanner Santos (Bethany, Conn.) singled up the middle and Jack Pirkl (Brightwaters, N.Y.) followed with a single through the shortstop hole before things momentarily unraveled for Roger Williams defensively. In a bizarre sequence, the rolling ball took a bad hop on Christopher Flynn (Randolph, N.J.) and got between his legs allowing Santos to score all the way from first. Flynn threw it into the cutoff man Masino who bluffed a throw home but the ball slipped out of his hand, rolling aimlessly into the middle of the diamond and Pirkl took third in the process. While Hewlette did retire the next three successfully, Dembowski brought in Pirkl on an RBI groundout and just like that the Beavers were within one without scoring an earned run.

Now facing Luke McClintock (South Hamilton, Mass.) in the bottom of the sixth, Roger Williams got some insurance. Leading off the inning, Flynn made up for his earlier mistake and got a hold of a 1-0 offering and crushed it well over the rightfield fence for his third home run of the season, all of them coming in the five games played at Paolino Field. They threatened for more as Nick Zobian (Califon, N.J.) got drilled and subsequently pinch run for by Justin Piskorski (Berlin, Conn.). He reached second on a Masino sacrifice bunt then got third on a throwing error by McClintock on pickoff play at second but he was left stranded.

Babson threatened in the top of the seventh. A walk, a single, and a fielders choice put the tying run on base with one out and with many of their top bullpen arms unavailable after their marathon against UMass Boston on Wednesday, the Hawks had to go to some of their less experienced options, turning to Brett Lauterbach (Fairfield, Conn.) and he was up to the task. Lauterbach required just four pitches to induce an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play to escape the jam.

The Beavers refused to go down quietly, however, as they once again got traffic on the bases right away in the eighth. Lapham opened by drawing an eight-pitch walk then Yellen singled to left as the Hawks made a change on the mound bringing Bonavita in to pitch from right field as Alec Lavallee (Cumberland, R.I.) took over at the vacated spot defensively. Kiely successfully dropped down a sacrifice bunt towards first as Jenkins applied a tag to retire him, but the tying run was in scoring position. Jackson Kelly (Wenonah, N.J.) brought in an inherited runner on a sacrifice fly to right then Michael Cook (Whitman, Mass.) hit a hot shot to third, but Massaro backhanded it and threw him out to extinguish the threat.

Bonavita allowed a two-out single in the ninth but then handled a comebacker to secure his first career save as well as a Roger Williams victory.

Coach's Corner

Just like yesterday, what a game today. Babson played well but we just made more plays than them in this one.

On the mound, Connor Hewlette was extremely good. I think it was his best outing since I have been here, and it came at a great time. He pitched to contact and we made the plays behind him.

Hitting again was fueled by Christopher Flynn! He has been having great at-bats for us all season and today was nothing different. The ball he hit today was a no-doubter off the bat and came at a really big spot! Ben Bonavita also has been swinging it well for us and added a home run today.

Defensively we played well. We spun some huge double plays in big pressure moments like it was practice. Got to tip my cap to Mike Masino and Owen Hibbard because they are working really well together in the middle. It is fun to watch. We did have one miscue that cost us some runs, but we overcame that and to me that is what great teams do.

15-1 is great start to the season! We will be happy with that for the night and then tomorrow back to 0-0 and focus on the little things to get better.

What's Next

Roger Williams gets a well-earned day off tomorrow before heading to Boston for a conference doubleheader against Suffolk University on Saturday. Game one is set to start at 12:00 PM.