RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE DEFEATS ELMS, 10-7

Providence, RI—Rhode Island College plated eight runs over the first three innings, then fought off a furious rally to post a 10-7 win, over the Elms College Blazers in Monday night’s non-conference baseball game at MacKenzie Stadium. The Anchormen extended their win streak to six games and improved to 19-7 overall. Elms College lost for just the second time in its last six games as it fell to 7-12.

Rhode Island College scored four times in the first and added a pair of tallies in both the second and third innings to build an 8-0 lead. In the Anchormen four-run first inning, junior third baseman Jeff Costa (Pawtucket, RI) belted a leadoff double down the left field line and came around to score the game’s first run on senior second baseman Peter Olson’s (North Providence, RI) RBI single.

Two batters later, senior first baseman Jim Connell (Smithfield, RI) cranked a two-run double and sophomore left fielder Jared Rossi (Johnston, RI) capped off the inning with a RBI double down the left field line.

Rhode Island College extended its lead to 6-0 in the second following a two-run double by junior right fielder Chris O’Connors’ (North Kingstown, RI). In the top of the third, freshman catcher Franklin Salcedo (Providence, RI) delivered a RBI single and later stole home to run the Anchormen lead to 8-0.

Elms College cut that deficit in half following a four-run, third inning that included a RBI single by junior third baseman Mike Andrews (Greenfield, MA), a RBI double by Netkovick, and RBI singles by freshman second baseman Mike Bedson (Moriches, NY) and freshman center fielder Bob Reyome (Westfield, MA). Andrews pulled the Blazers to within 8-5 in the fourth following a RBI single for his second hit of the night.

In the top of the fifth, Salcedo delivered a clutch RBI double and Olson later added a RBI sacrifice groundout to provide a pair of insurance runs and rebuild the Anchormen lead to 10-5.

Although the Blazers plated single runs in both the sixth and eighth innings, Rhode Island College junior pitcher Eric Fama (Wappingers Falls, NY) came on in the ninth and struck out all three batters to nail down his team-leading, sixth save of the season. Sophomore reliever Paul Vatter (Warwick, RI) earned his second win (2-0) in 4.1 innings of work.

Junior Eric Fama

Salcedo went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI, Connell finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, Rossi was 2-for-5 and Costa was 2-for-6.

For the Blazers, Andrews finished 2-for-4, Bedson was 3-for-5 and junior right fielder Nick Mackowiak (Dudley, MA) finished 2-for-5.

Freshman pitcher Nick Cordeiro (Berkley, MA) was solid in relief for the Blazers, as he allowed just one hit in 3.0 innings of work.

In upcoming action, Rhode Island College will host Johnson & Wales on Tuesday, Apr. 15 at 3:30 p.m.

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