PROVIDENCE, R.I. (taken from an RIC press release) -Junior pitcher/designated hitter Gary Levesque (East Providence, RI) picked up his first win (1-0) and went 3-for-4 with three RBI as Rhode Island College defeated Brandeis, 5-1, on Thursday afternoon at Anchorman Field. He allowed just one run on four hits, while striking out five, in seven innings of work.
The Anchormen (13-5) win their third straight game and for the fifth time in their last six contests. The Judges (8-14) fall for the fifth time in their last six.
Rhode Island College went up, 1-0, in the bottom of the fourth as junior catcher Justin Corso (Cranston, R.I.) led off with a infield single up the middle. He was moved over to second on a ground out and advanced to third when a failed pickoff attempt sailed into left field. Corso then trotted home on sophomore shortstop Kyle Allaire¹s (Uxbridge, Mass.) RBI ground out to shortstop.
The Anchormen added more in the fifth as with one down. Freshman right fielder Kevin Carey (Wakefield, R.I.) tripled to the gap in right center, Allaire was hit by a pitch and senior center fielder Jared Rossi (Johnston, R.I.) walked to load the bases. That set the stage for Levesque who crushed an 0-2 pitch to the gap in right center and bring in all three runners.
The Levesque hit chased Brandeis junior starter John McGrath (New York, N.Y./Trevor Day) from the game and brought on rookie Stefan Weiss (Jericho, N.Y./Jericho) who got senior first baseman Tim Schabowski (Pascoag, R.I.) to ground out to second. Rookie Andrew Weissenberg (Demarest, N.J./Northern Valley Regional) came on and threw a wild pitch that allowed Levesque to score easily from third to give RIC a 5-0 advantage.
Brandeis tried to get back into the game in the seventh as rookie left fielder Chris Ferro (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) led off the inning with a solo homer to left, his third of the season. Levesque hit senior catcher Artie Posch (Hopedale, Mass.), but he induced a 1-6-3 double play and a ground out to shortstop to squash the rally.
RIC senior reliever Bobby Venditto (Cranston, RI) pitched a scoreless eighth, and despite putting the two lead runners aboard, junior Matt Thadeio (West Greenwich, RI) struck out the next two hitters and forced a ground out to seal the win.
Ferro was the only offensive bright spot for the visitors, going 1-for-4 with a run scored and RBI. McGrath took the loss (0-3), allowing all five runs on five hits in 4.1 innings before giving way to the relief corp, which did a fine job for the second outing in a row. Six relievers combined to allow just two hits in 3.2 innings of work.
Brandeis returns to Stein Diamond tomorrow at 3 p.m. to take on Western New England College.