May 16, 2013

Box Score

MERION STATION, Pa. - Saint Joseph's senior righthander Kyle Mullen worked into the seventh inning while Brian O'Keefe and Anthony Cirillo had two hits but the Saint Joseph's baseball team fell to Rhode Island, 4-1, at Smithson Field on Thursday.

Rhode Island (32-22 overall, 15-7 Atlantic 10) took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second on a double by Tim Caputo and a fielder's choice by Jeff Roy.

The teams traded zeroes until the bottom of the eighth when Mike Muha hit the first pitch of the inning over the fence in left to get Saint Joseph's (26-24 overall, 12-10 Atlantic 10) on the board.

The Rams got the run back in the ninth when Connor Foreman scored on a wild pitch to push the lead back to three.

The Hawks had an opportunity to tie in the ninth as Cirillo led off with an infield single and Quinn Renner drew a four-pitch walk, but Brad Applin came out of the URI bullpen to retired the next three hitters and lock down the win.

Mullen took the loss for SJU, his first regular season conference defeat in over two calendar years, to fall to 8-4. He allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out four in six and two-thirds innings. Mike Bradstreet got the win for Rhode Island, allowing four hits and fanning five in six shutout innings, to improve to 7-5. Applin earned his second save of the season.

The middle game of the three-game series is set for Friday at 1:00 p.m. at Smithson Field.