Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - If you ask your fan base to watch you play in less than ideal conditions, you might as well give them their money's worth.
Perhaps that was the thought process for the University of Rio Grande baseball team in regard to Sunday afternoon's home opener against Wilberforce University.
The RedStorm pushed across two-out runs in the bottom of the sixth inning in each of the two seven-inning contests to sweep the Bulldogs, 5-4 and 8-7, in non-conference play at chilly Bob Evans Field.
Rio Grande snapped a seven-game losing streak with the wins, improving its season mark to 4-7 in the process.
The Bulldogs slipped to 0-5 with the two losses.
Rio Grande coughed up a 2-0 first inning lead in the opener and trailed 4-2 until a game-tying two-run single by redshirt sophomore Brett Haskins (Evans, WV) in the bottom of the fifth.
The RedStorm pushed across the go-ahead marker in the bottom of the sixth.
Junior Keniel Rosado (Juncos, P.R.) and junior Josiah Devapalan (Brampton, Ontario, Canada) drew back-to-back one-out walks and, one out later, Rosado scored when freshman Gregory Catano's (Santo Domingo, D.R.) grounder to third was errored.
Wilberforce threated in the top of the seventh when Darius Woodson reached on an error by Rio reliever Hayden Simon (Stouffville, Ontario, Canada) and was bunted into scoring position, but Simon retired each of the next two batters to nail down the win.
Haskins finished 2-for-3 with the two RBIs, while Devapalan doubled and drove in a run and Wooldridge had a double of his own.
Simon allowed two hits and an unearned run over four innings of relief to get the win. He walked one and fanned four.
Marjuan Wells took the loss for the Bulldogs, allowing a hit, three walks and an unearned run over two innings.
Keith Smith, Jr. doubled and drove in a run in the loss, while Julian Patton knocked in a pair of runs.
Game two began as a slugfest before transforming into a pitcher's duel over the final five innings.
The Bulldogs jumped to a 3-0 first inning lead before Rio Grande countered with five runs in the home first.
Wilberforce scored four more times in the second to regain the lead, but the RedStorm countered with two markers in the bottom of the frame to knot the score at 7-7.
That's how things stayed until senior Waskar Martinez (Santiago, D.R.) cracked a two-out home run to left field to put Rio in front.
Freshman Connor Gullet (Cincinnati, OH) allowed a two-out infield single in the top of the seventh before inducing a groundout to first base to end the game.
Martinez finished 2-for-2 in the win, while junior Casey Funk (Houston, TX) was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI and senior Beiker Fuentes (Crystal Lake, IL) had a double.
Gullett got the win in relief, allowing three hits and pair of walks while striking out eight in five scoreless innings of work.
Orlando Olvera was the hard luck loser for Wilberforce, allowing five hits and run while striking out four over five innings of relief.
Smith, Jr. had three RBI in the loss for the Bulldogs, while Darius Woodson and Christopher Diaz-Alcateras both had two hits and run batted in.
Joe Mendy also had two hits for Wilberforce.
Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Friday when it opens River States Conference play against Indiana University Columbus.
First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at Bob Evans Field.
