NORTH KINGSTOWN — Brayden Rosen took this Tuesday rivalry matchup in Division I baseball and made it his own.

The senior was a factor in seemingly all areas at Lischio Field, pitching and hitting South Kingstown past North Kingstown in what is typically an anticipated grudge match between two premier programs.

Rosen fired five shutout innings on the mound and helped himself at the plate, racking up a run scored and an RBI during a 3-for-4 day. The Rebels took care of the Skippers, 6-1, to claim the early bragging rights under chilly sunshine.

Rosen cracked a run-scoring double in the top of the first to give himself the lead for good, part of a 10-hit attack put together by the visitors. Luke Palmieri, Mike DiGioia, Sam McLeod and Nick Vellone each drove in single runs as South Kingstown proved difficult to keep quiet throughout the lineup.

More: Vote now for the 2026 Week 3 Longplex Athlete of the Week in Baseball

“Every year, we circle the NK game,” Rosen said. “It’s one of the biggest games and it’s great to see the work pay off from everyone.”

Vellone helped set the tone for the afternoon with one out in the first, working a 10-pitch at-bat and reaching when he was hit by a pitch. Rosen followed by sending a drive to the fence in deep right-center and Vellone came all the way around from first on a sore right calf to make it 1-0.

“I want to grind, work the pitch count and let everyone know that we’re here to battle,” Vellone said. “Hopefully that inspires the rest of the lineup to work just as hard.”

Palmieri singled over the bag at first in the second and DiGioia beat out an infield hopper to short in the third to make it a 3-0 game. Sam Brandies scored on a passed ball in the fifth before the Rebels just about put it away in the sixth. McLeod sent a towering drive down the line in left that hit the base of the fence for a double and Vellone served a liner into center for a single that made it 6-0.

“Finding the right pitches,” Vellone said. “Finding ways to grind at-bats, get on base, keep the line moving — that's the main goal every time we’re up there.”

That was more than enough for Rosen, who worked out of the only two jams he ran into. Mark Swistak reached on an error and Rocco Conseglia drew a walk to load the bases in the second, turning the lineup back to the top with two outs. Rosen induced a fielder’s choice grounder to short from Colton Kim, with Vellone flipping to Palmieri at second to keep North Kingstown scoreless.

“Just trying to get ahead with the fastball,” Rosen said. “Late in counts, use the offspeed — I think that’s the biggest thing. Trust the defense as well.”

The Skippers threatened again in the fourth, but a base running mistake with one out helped lessen the trouble a bit. Evan Rodger sent a one-out double to right-center, but South Kingstown executed a perfect 9-6-5 relay to catch the lead runner taking too big a turn around third. That put Rosen one out from escaping, and he worked around a bunt single by Swistak to fan Conseglia with a fastball that tailed sharply away from the left-handed hitter.

“That’s one of the things I worked on most over the winter — just make sure my fastball runs,” Rosen said. “As a hitter, I know one of the easiest things to hit, even if someone is throwing hard, is if it’s flat.”

North Kingstown (4-3) saw its four-game winning streak snapped after opening losses to La Salle and Lincoln and played again without Rock Arnold. There is reasonable concern the standout infielder and Oklahoma State commit could miss the remainder of the 2026 season while recovering from an undisclosed injury. The Rebels (6-2) won for the fourth time in their last five and the lone defeat in that stretch was a 4-0 shutout against the Rams.

“Nothing is getting us down,” Vellone said. “We’re staying up — we know how good we are. We know we’re a good team and we can beat any team.”

South Kingstown  111 012 0 — 6 10 2 

North Kingstown  000 000 1 — 1 5 0 

Brayden Rosen, Cole Rosen (6) and Jack Noonan. Bodie Forsell, Chris Ciarniello (6) and Rocco Conseglia, Henry Randall (6).

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: S. Kingstown's Rosen holds down N. Kingstown in 6-1 victory April 21