Lancers Drop 11-5 Decision to Rhode Island College

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Worcester State Lancers (8-8) dropped an 11-5 decision to the Rhode Island College Anchormen (7-9-1) Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference matchup at the Lyons Diamond on the campus of Worcester State.

The Anchormen scored 11 runs on 16 hits and five Worcester State errors, while the Lancers came up short with five runs on 11 hits and no errors on the Rhode Island College end. Anchormen Edward Apice (North Kingstown, RI) and Tyler Rains (North Kingstown, RI) both batted a perfect 4-for-4 on the afternoon, as Apice marked two doubles and Rains logged one. Anchormen's TJ Lynch (South Kingstown, RI) went 3-for-6 with a run home run. For Worcester State, John Boyd (Worcester, Mass.) went 2-for-2 while George Bielizna (Danbury, Conn.) went 2-for-3.

The Anchormen reached the scoreboard in the top of the 1^st inning when Lynch slammed a two-run home run in the inning, scoring himself and Brad Douglas (Wakefield, RI) at the plate. In the bottom of the inning the Lancers cut their deficit in half when Jake Ryan (Northbridge, Mass.) doubled down the left field line to score Boyd home.

Rhode Island College added two runs in the top of the 3^rd when Rains hit in two runs on his single to left center, scoring Apice and Austin Barry (North Kingstown, RI).

The Anchormen added one run in the top of the 5^th, from where the Lancers came through with three runs on five in the bottom of the inning, to make it a close 5-4 ball game. The inning started out when Kevin Valentine (Milford, Mass.) reached on a walk. Next up, Bielizna doubled to right center to score Valentine. Then back-to-back singles from Matthew Lavin (Worcester, Mass.), Robbie Fraser (Whitinsville, Mass.), Ryan, and Adam Barry (Auburn, Mass.) scored the runners at the plate.

Rhode Island College scored two runs in the top of the 6^th on a 2-RBI double from Apice to pull away from the Lancers. Though, the Lancers managed to add another run in the bottom of the inning to bring the score to 7-5.

The Anchormen came through with a substantial four runs in the top of the 7^th, as the Lancers gave up four hits and two errors. Both teams closed out the 8^th and 9^th innings with no runs, bringing about the final score of 11-5 in the Anchormen's favor.

Rhode Island College's PJ Watson (Cheshire, Conn.) earned his first win of the season, pitching 5.1 innings as he faced 26 batters. Worcester State's Kyle Sullivan (Hudson, Mass.) moves to 1-2 on the season.

The Lancers return to action on Thursday (Mar. 31) where they travel to UMass-Dartmouth for another non-conference matchup, before starting conference play on Saturday (April 2) against Mass. Maritime. Rhode Island College hosts Becker College tomorrow (Mar. 30) at 3:30 p.m.