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May 23, 2007

URI baseball wins A-10 tourney opener

Junior catcher Zach Zaneski's two-run single fueled a four-run first inning and freshman Tim Boyce escaped a ninth-inning jam to record his sixth save as Rhode Island edged No. 4 Xavier, 4-3, on Wednesday in the opening game of the 2007 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship at Fifth Third Field.

Vying for its second title in three seasons, Rhode Island (23-28) will face top-seeded Charlotte (44-10) on Thursday at noon.

"The first game is always the most important. It's a long road if you don't win so we're happy we got it," said Rhode Island head coach Jim Foster.

"It was nice to go out there and put up a four-spot right away."

Zaneski's hit was one of six by the Rams in the top of the first against XU starter Bill Konecny (3-6). Rhode Island rightfielder Scott Brown and senior Gregg Allen each added RBI singles to give the Rams a 4-0 lead. Xavier cut the deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Wolf and Adam Lipski's sacrifice fly. However, Rhody starter Brett Palanski kept the Musketeers off the scoreboard for the next three innings before running into trouble in the seventh.

Rightfielder Neil Lingren singled with one out and later came around to score on an RBI hit by Sean Farrell. With Wolf on third and two outs, freshman southpaw Mark Fraser relieved Palanski and got Lipski to ground out to shortstop on a bang-bang play to end the inning.

Singles by Adam Pasono and catcher Jordan Wolf off URI reliever Jamie Degidio gave Xavier runners at first and second with two outs in the ninth. However, Boyce's first pitch to sophomore Sean Farrell was skied to centerfield to end the game.

"Tim [Boyce] does a nice job against left-handed hitters and he doesn't look like a freshman when he takes the mound," said Foster.

"He's done a nice job all year long for us."

Brown led URI with a 3-for-5 afternoon at the plate, while Allen and second basemen Mike O'Malley collected two hits apiece. Palanski improved to 6-7 on the year after yielding three runs in 6 2/3 innings. The senior righthander walked three and struck out four in a 96-pitch effort.

"It's always nice to start a game with a lead and I have great confidence in our lineup," said Palanski, who scattered eight hits on the afternoon.

"I tried to keep the ball low and was able to get some groundouts."

--ATLANTIC-10

Posted by Corey Bourassa  at 5:11 PM to College Sports | Permalink

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