MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College baseball team split a pair of games with conference opponent Roger Williams University on Sunday afternoon at the Jack Vallely Diamond. The Colonels captured game one by a 4-2 final before the Hawks responded to take the second, 6-4.
With the split, Curry is now 10-13 overall and 4-6 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) while Roger Williams moves to 17-15 overall and 10-2 in league action.
Game One – Curry 4, Roger Williams 2
David Griffin (Hanover, Mass.) fanned a career-high 14 batters, including 12 of the first 13 en route to his fifth win of the season.
The Colonels got on the board with three runs coming in the first frame. After John Cave (Tewksbury, Mass.) singled to right and Justin Cage (Glendora, Calif.) singled to center field, Tyler Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) stepped to the dish and connected on a three-run homer to center.
Curry tacked one on in the fourth as Jenkins continued his big day with an RBI double down the left field line to score Jhonathan Oliveira (Peabody, Mass.) to give the Colonels the 4-0 advantage.
The Hawks were able to score late when in the seventh, Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) came to the plate with one aboard and hit a home run to center to cut the deficit in half, 4-2, which proved to be the final score.
Jenkins paced Curry with a 2-for-3 day with four runs batted in. Cave also had two hits while Cage closed the column with one.
Dean DePreta (Stamford, Conn.) led Roger Williams with two hits in three plate appearances. Chris Bosco (North Andover, Mass.) and Roth tallied the final hits for the visitors.
Griffin picked up the win on the hill in dominant fashion, only allowing two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out 14.
Jimmy Smith (Walpole, Mass.) was tagged with the loss, going three innings. The senior surrendered three runs on four hits. Additionally, he fanned three and walked four.
Game Two – Roger Williams 6, Curry 4
Roger Williams was the first to strike in game two as Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) singled to center to score Bosco from third. The Hawks crossed the plate twice more in the opening inning on a 2-RBI single from Roth to plate Jenkins and Shane Nowak (Litchfield, N.H.).
The Colonels got one run back in the fourth, thanks to a Cage sacrifice fly to right to send Oliveira home to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Cage was back in the action in the fifth when he doubled to left field to plate Oliveira and Mitchell Carvalho (Cranston, R.I.) to make the score 3-3.
The Hawks had the answer in the next inning when DePreta singled to left to score Justin Stone (Blackstone, Mass.) and Nowak. Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) followed with a single to left center, which plated DePreta to push the score to 6-3.
Curry was only able to get one back in the bottom of the seventh when Oliveira singled to right field with two on. The base knock plated Adam Duarte (East Providence, R.I.) from third as the game ended with a 6-4 final.
Oliveira led the Colonels with a 3-for-4 day in the nightcap. Cage and Duarte registered the final two hits for Curry.
Bosco, Nowak, Roth, and Gulino all put up two hits each for Roger Williams.
Connor Hewlette (Deer Park, N.Y.) was credited with the victory for the Hawks. He pitched six innings while giving up four runs on four hits. He struck out three and walked two.
Tyler Nadeau (Somerset, Mass.) picked up the loss, going three and a third innings while giving up three runs on five hits. He fanned one and walked two.
Curry will return to the field on Monday, April 23 at Salve Regina for a doubleheader starting at 2:00. Roger Williams travels to Trinity for their next contest on Wednesday, April 25 at 5:00 p.m.