URI Baseball Stuns Top Seeded South Carolina 5-4 in NCAA Tournament Opener

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URI Baseball Stuns Top Seeded South Carolina 5-4 in NCAA Tournament Opener

The University of Rhode Island Rams defeated top seeded South Carolina 5-4 in the NCAA Regional Opener on Friday night in Columbia, South Carolina. The win is URI baseball's first NCAA Tournament win in program history and they become the first 4-seed to beat a 1-seed in the 2016 NCAA Regional round.

URI Rallies

URI trailed the Gamecocks 4-0 in the third inning before rallying starting in the fourth when they got two runs to get themselves within two after back to back solo home runs from Ryan Olmo and Brett McManus. 

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The Rams rally continued in the fifth when they loaded the bases with no outs on a single from Laurence Hill and Chris Hess, followed by a walk to Martin Figueroa. Powell than foulded off four pitches before lining the 8th pitch for a single which drove in Hill. 

Next, URI took the lead. McManus lined a ball into the gap in left center that Dom Thompson-Williams almost caught with a diving effort. Hess and Figueroa both came around to score, however, Powell was out at second for a fielder's choice. 

The umpires for several minutes before ruling that Thompson-Williams had not caught the ball, allowing the runs to count and URI a 5-4 lead. 

Despite some close calls the rest of the way, Tyler Barss came on and was able to close the game out. 

Next up 

Rhode Island will now take on UNCW tonight at 6 p.m. The Seahawks beat Duke 11-1 on Friday. 

The game will be shown live on ESPN3.com 


RI Teams To Win National Championships

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