Rinn powers Bulldogs to sweep of Mount on Saturday afternoon

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Junior Robby Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) went 2-for-3 with two RBI, two runs scored and his second home run of the day to lead the Bryant University baseball team to a doubleheader 6-1 victory and a doubleheader sweep of Mount St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon at Conaty Park.

With the victory, the Bulldogs (13-16, 5-2 NEC) have now defeated the Mountaineers (6-23, 4-7) 21-straight times dating back to 2010.

The Bulldogs opened the scoring in game two of Saturday's doubleheader with two runs in the second. With two outs and the bases empty, sophomore Brandon Bingel (Peabody, Mass.) hit a liner off the pitchers hand and then advanced to second base as the shortstop threw wildly to first. Junior AJ Zarozny (Shrewsbury, Mass.) followed with a single to left field to bring home the first run. A single put runners on the corners and the Bulldogs used some trickery to score a run. Junior Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.) took off from first base and stopped before getting to second and Zarozny raced home from third before he was tagged out.

Mount St. Mary's cut the lead in half in the fourth on a home run from Kory Britton. Zach Hostetter followed with a double but freshman James Karinchak (Walden, N.Y.) escaped further trouble with a ground ball to second.

Bryant quickly responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth to extend the lead. Leading off the inning, Rinn got ahead in the count 2-0 before hitting a monstrous solo home run to the right of the scoreboard in right-center. Bingel kept the inning going with a double to right center and came around to score on a throwing error to make it 4-1.

The Black and Gold extended their lead with two more runs in the fifth. Sophomore Cole Fabio (Mahwah, N.J.) walked to open the inning and came around to score on a two-out single to right field from Rinn. Senior John Mullen (Walpole, Mass.) followed with a double down the left field line to make it 6-1.

Karinchak allowed one runs on six hits, struck out six and didn't walk a batter in a complete-game effort. He improved to 4-4 on the year. Karinchak retired the first 10 batters of the afternoon and was helped by double plays in the sixth and seventh innings. A 4-6-3 double play ended the sixth and Fabio ended the game by snaring a line drive and then doubling off the runner at second.

Bingel finished the game 2-for-2 with two runs scored and Rinn was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. He finished the doubleheader with five hits, four RBI and five runs scored.

The Bulldogs and Mountaineers wrap up their four-game series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.