After taking two trips deep into the Southeast, the men’s baseball team took a much shorter visit to the University of Rhode Island Tuesday, hoping to achieve just its second win of the season.
Unfortunately for the Bears (1-10), this was not to be the case, as URI (3-6) jumped all over starting pitcher Jake Spezial ’17 early and never relinquished the lead after the first inning.
After giving up two early walks, Spezial gave up a double down the left field line to Mike Corin, allowing the two runners on base to score. Nick DeRegis did some damage on the basepaths in the second inning, getting to first on a bunt single and stealing two bases. Jordan Powell knocked DeRegis in with a single up the middle in what turned out to be the game-winning run for the Rams.
The third inning was more of the same, as Derek Gardella walked for the second time and advanced to third after Corin was hit by a pitch and a ball passed catcher Mark Sluys ’18. Mike Sherburne flied out to center, scoring Gardella, and then Corin scored on another wild pitch.
Taylor Wright ’15 came to the mound in the middle of the third for Spezial and let up a triple to DeRegis, and then a Matt O’Neil groundout scored DeRegis. Wright went three and two-thirds of an inning before Dante Bosnic ’18 came in for his third appearance of the year.
“As a staff we’re just trying to give our team a chance to win the game,” Wright said. “We think our offense is good enough to make up early deficits, so if we can hold the opponent at bay, we think we have a chance to win.”
Wright gave up two runs: one after the Bears chose to get the double play instead of trying to get a runner out at home, and another on an error off of a pickoff attempt.
Bruno did not get on the scoreboard until the eighth inning, when Sluys walked and advanced on a ground out and two passed balls to cross the plate. It looked like it could be a big inning for Brown after Robert Henry ’17, Noah Shulman ’16 and Will Marcal ’15 all reached base. But Dan Kerr ’15 grounded out to first, leaving the bases loaded.
Sam Hauser ’17 pitched one scoreless inning in his first appearance for the Bears. The team desperately needs someone to step up and solidify its bullpen — after Tuesday’s game, the team ERA improved from 10.06 over the previous 10 games to 9.00.
Brown tacked on another run in the ninth after Henry walked for the second inning in a row with the bases loaded, plating first-year backup catcher Sluys.
“Rob has been huge for our offense as a table setter as the leadoff guy when he’s always on,” Wright said. “It gives us early momentum in the game, and he gives our offense a lot of confidence by putting pressure on their pitcher early.”
In only his third appearance for Bruno, Sluys went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs. But the Bears again stranded three runners, as Shulman grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.
“We have a lot of good players, and we’ve shown some good signs so far this year,” Wright said. “We’ve played some good teams early in preparation for the Ivy League schedule, and the goal is to win those games. We’re close to putting together complete games and series, so by the time the conference starts we should be clicking.”
Bruno has nine games in nine days scheduled over spring break, with a trip down to Washington, D.C. to face Georgetown and George Mason before starting Ivy League play the following weekend.
