Box Score
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Fourth-seeded Roger Williams took advantage of a season-high five errors committed by Western New England to score six unearned runs en route to a 7-5 victory Friday in Game 5 of the 2013 Commonwealth Coast Conference Baseball Championship at Pat Ricci Field at Trelease Park.
"You cannot make five errors and (expect to) win a ballgame," Matt LaBranche, Western New England coach, said after the game. "We will just have to turn the page and see what we can do tomorrow."
With the win, the Hawks stave off elimination to move to 24-17 on the season and will face second-seeded Endicott in a game eight that will be played on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Springfield College. Meanwhile, the No. 1 seed Golden Bears (29-10) will host No. 5 Wentworth at 11 a.m. tomorrow on the WNE campus in a game seven match-up.
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Five Golden Bears--seniors
Tim Clark,
Mike Rubino, juniors
Jeff Schult,
Steve Ambrosino and freshman
T.J. Wyrebek--had two hits apiece. Rubino added two runs batted in.
Mike Thomas went 3-for-5 with two RBI and Trevor Larson had two hits, two runs scored and he knocked in two runs, too.
Thomas broke a 5-all tie with a two-out, two-run single to right center in the top of the ninth inning, making a winner out of Tyler Pogmore (4-0) who pitched the final 2-2/3 innings in relief. He allowed an unearned run, two hits and no walks with four strikeouts.
Things started well enough for the Golden Bears who took a 3-0 lead on a Rubino fielder's choice that brought home a run in the first and a pair of throwing errors by RWU starting pitcher A.J. Bashaw to score two more in the second inning alone.
The Hawks, however, responded with four runs, which were all unearned, in the top of the third to take a 4-3 lead. Larson had a RBI-single to right field, Matt Jefferis hit a sacrifice fly to right, and Reid Nelson had a RBI-single up the middle.
Wyrebek tied the score at 4-all in the Golden Bears' bottom half when he had a single to right field to plate senior
Taylor Perun, who had reached on a fielder's choice.
But RWU reclaimed the lead, 5-4, in its next at-bat. Larson knocked in Matt Swensen, who had led off the fourth with a single, on a single himself through the left side.
Then in the seventh inning, WNE had a golden opportunity to tie or take the lead when they had two runners in scoring position, with one out, after a sacrifice bunt by senior
Kyle McKelvey. But Pogmore, RWU's third pitcher of the day, was able to escape the jam he inherited by getting a strikeout and inducing a flyout.
Western New England outhit the Hawks 13 to 10, but left 11 runners on base.