The Knights picked up their third straight win on Tuesday afternoon, powering past Mitchell College’s JV team by a score of 7-1.With the win, CCRI improved its record to 17-7 on the season.

CCRI received another outstanding performance from a freshman pitcher, as Stew Braman (Middletown) dominated Mitchell’s lineup, scattering six hits over eight innings of work, while allowing just one run and striking out 14. Reliever Tyler Brown (Jacksonville, Fla.) came on in the ninth to close out the game, pitching a scoreless inning.

“I’ve been extremely pleased with the pitching staff over the last few outings and Braman’s effort today just added to the strength and depth of our staff,” head coach Ken Hopkins said.

Offensively, the Knights were led by Joe Yankee (Lincoln), who had four hits in the win, including two home runs. He also had three RBI. After an RBI single by Pat O’Keefe (East Greenwich) to get the Knights on the board in the bottom of the third, Yankee blasted a two-run home run to give CCRI a 3-0 lead.

Zach Wood (Griswold, Conn.) added to the Knights’ power surge with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to extend the lead to 5-1. Yankee’s second home run and Ryan Wordell’s (Little Compton) RBI single in the bottom of the eighth extended the Knights’ lead and closed out the scoriong.

This past weekend CCRI also played well, taking two out of three games in a series with rival Dean College. They lost the first game, but came back to win the next two 3-1 and 4-3.

In the 3-1 game, after taking a 1-1 tie into extra innings, O’Keefe finally broke the tie in the top of the eleventh, with a clutch base hit. Ryan O’Dell then came in to close out a 3-1 game and got out of a bases-loaded jam by striking out the side.

Freshman PJ Watson (Cheshire, Conn.) was outstanding on the mound for the Knights, pitching nine strong innings while allowing just one run, en route to picking up the no-decision.

It was another tight game in game three of the series, with the two teams tied 3-3 once again. However, the Knights would prevail, as an RBI single by freshman Casey Mack (Trumbull, Conn.) broke the tie and ended up being the difference.Mike Evans (Warwick) and Eddie Apice (North Kingstown) also chipped in with two hits apiece.

The Knights got another great pitching performance by Austin Barry (North Kingstown) to seal the victory

The Knights will be back in action on Thursday, when they travel to the University of Southern New Hampshire for a 4 p.m. game against the Penmen.

Softball sweeps doubleheader at Southern Maine

The CCRI softball team traveled to South Portland, Maine to take on the Seawolves of Southern Maine Community College on Friday, earning a doubleheader sweep with 12-6 and 10-9 wins. With the pair of wins, the Lady Knights improved to 8-10 on the season.

Game 1

Sophomore Macayla Paiva (West Greenwich) picked up the win on the mound for the Knights, going the distance while surrendering six runs in a complete-game effort. Paiva scattered 10 hits and fought through a five-run Southern Maine fourth inning to finish the game strong.

Offensively, the Lady Knights were on fire, tallying a season-high 21 hits in the win. The 12-run outburst was highlighted by a five-run first inning. Alex Place (East Greenwich), Taylor Butler (North Kingstown), Sam Archambeault (Harrisville), Sarah Deal (North Kingstown), Liz Coburn (Chepachet) and Jess Brosnahan (Warwick) all picked up singles in the inning, with Archambeault, Deal, and Brosnahan picking up RBI’s as well.

Additionally, the Lady Knights had six players with three hits in the game: Place, Brosnahan, Archambeault, Butler, Coburn, and Ashley Spear (Harrisville).

Game 2

The Knights staved off Southern Maine to hang on for a win in game two, with Butler and Paiva splitting duties on the mound for the Lady Knights. Butler pitched five innings, allowing seven runs, just one earned, while Paiva pitched two innings and surrendered two earned runs.

The Lady Knights once again used a five-run first inning to jump out to a lead, highlighted by a two-run double by Deal. However, Southern Maine bounced right back with two runs in the bottom of the first and six runs in the bottom of the second.

With the game tied 9-9, Amber Boucher (Warwick) had a one-out single in the seventh, eventually coming around to score what proved to be the winning run on an RBI double by Place.

The Lady Knights were led by multi-hit performances by Place, Spear, Brosnahan, Boucher and Deal.

CCRI swept another doubleheader against Quinsigamond on Saturday also swept a doubleheader Massasoit earlier in the week.

Croft leads Knights at Silfen Invitational

The Knights and Lady Knights both finished in sixth place overall at the Silfen Invitational held on the campus of Connecticut College on Saturday.

Steven Croft (Warwick) led the Knights with first-place finishes in the 100m and 200m. His time in the 100m was 11.00 seconds and 22.53 seconds in the 200m. Samson Olowoporoku (Osun-State, Nigeria) placed second in the 400m and third in the 200m. Joshua Rembert (Boston, Mass.) placed third in the long Jump with a leap of 6.32m 20-09.00 feet. He also placed 5th in the 400m. He then placed seventh in the 200m. Kevin Redmond (South Kingstown) placed sixth in the shot put with 36-02.75 foot toss. Austin White (Woonsocket) placed seventh in the triple jump and 10th in the long jump. Britton Laney (Pascoag) placed 14th in the 1500m. Laney placed 15th in the 800m as well.

Joseph Gareri (Uxbridge) placed 18th in the 1500m also came back to place 22nd in the 800m. Nelson Moreno (Pawtucket) placed 26th in the 800m. John Vicario (Johnston) placed 17th in the 100m and also placed 17th in the 200m. The Knights ended with 57 points, while Trinity College won the meet with 164 points.

Shenelle Teixeira (Barrington) won the 400m hurdles with a NJCAA National Qualifying time of 1:07.76. Haley Beausoleil (Plainfield, CT) won the javelin throw with a 115-09.00 foot toss. She also placed second in the 400m with a time of 1:03.65 and she took seventh in the 200m dash. Teondra Silva (Barrington) placed sixth in the long jump and 11th in the 200m. She also placed 10th in the 100m dash. The Lady Knights ended with 33 points, while the win went to the home team of Connecticut College with 134.

The Knights and Lady Knights will be back in action next Sunday, when they take part in the Regis Invitational.

Knights co-ed Tennis blanks Bristol CC

The CCRI co-ed tennis team traveled to Fall River, Mass. to play the Bees of Bristol Community College for their Region XXI opener. The Knights beat the Bees 9-0 and only lost 13 games during the nine matches. With the victory, the Knights improved to 1-4 overall and 1-0 in Region XXI play.

No.1 singles John Chammat (Cumberland) dominated for a 6-0 and 6-0 win.  Chammat followed that by teaming with Sean Gorman (Wakefield) in No. 1 doubles to win 8-0. No. 5 singles Billy Moya (Providence) and No. 6 singles Sarah Keomorokot (Pawtucket) respectively won their first singles matches of the year. The duo also teamed-up to win its No. 3 doubles match.  Otniel Lopes (Pawtucket) and No. 4 doubles partner Eddie Papineau (Scituate) were both solid in their singles matches, giving up a total of three games between them

“I was pleased with the way our team played today,” said CCRI head coach Deb Panzica. “Even though we won 9-0 today, we still need to play BCC one more time during our regular season and we can’t take them for granted. We have our Region XXI tournament next week that we need to focus on that and two more matches in upstate New York after that.”