Salve Regina Earns First Round Win

WENHAM, Mass. – Senior Riley Diaz (Miami, Fla.) and junior Alexander Melcher (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) each hit two home runs, while junior Patrick Quinn (Middletown, N.J.) was nearly perfect in 4.2 innings of relief as fifth-seeded Salve Regina upended fourth-seeded Wentworth, 14-6, in an opening round game of the 2010 The Commonwealth Coast Conference Baseball Tournament played Gordon College.

The Seahawks scored seven times in the top of the second inning to begin the scoring.  Senior Tom Glynn (Woodbridge, Conn.) led off by being hit by a pitch and scored on Diaz' first home run of the day, which he belted to right center.  Sophomore Michael O'Neill (Pawtucket, R.I.) doubled and advanced to third on a fly out before coming home on an RBI double from senior Dave Miller (Shelton, Conn.).  Miller scored on a two-out single off the bat of junior Charles Matarazzo (Montville, N.J.).  An infield single from junior Brandon Bursie (Smithfield, R.I.) put runners at first and second and Melcher made it a 7-0 game with a home run to right.

Wentworth got three back in the home half of the inning, also by way of the long ball.  Junior Jake McManus (Hopkinton, N.H.) led off with a single to left center and went to second when freshman Ryan Delgado (Wareham, Mass.) drew a one-out walk.  Both runners came home on a home run to left off the bat of senior Anthony Carbone (Goshen, Conn.).  The Leopards had the bases loaded with two outs, but would not score.

Salve Regina added to its lead in the top of the third when Diaz led off with a solo shot to make it 8-3.  However, the Leopards chipped away and cut the lead to 8-6 with a three-run second.  McManus led off with a single and went to third on a junior Ben Danker (Branford, Conn.) double.  A one-out RBI single from Carbone scored McManus and moved Danker up 90 feet.  Freshman Alex Wong (Lewiston, Maine) delivered a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Danker and making it an 8-5 contest.  Carbone would advance to second on a single from junior Matt Jordan (Concord, N.H.) and would score on an RBI single off the bat of sophomore Conner Flisnik (Marcy, N.Y.).  Wentworth would once again have the bases loaded, but would be unable to tack on any more runs.

The Seahawks broke the game open in the fifth and sixth innings, scoring two and three runs, respectively.  An RBI double from junior Brendan Tapley (Warwick, R.I.) scored Glynn, and Diaz, who was intentionally walked, eventually came around to score on an error.  An inning later Bursie led off with an infield single and scored when Melcher hit his second round-tripper of the day.  Glynn, who was hit by a pitch, eventually scored on a double play.  Salve Regina tacked on its 14^th run of the day on an RBI single from Tapley.

Quinn (3-1) came on in relief of junior Craig Silva (Marlborough, Mass.) with one out and two on in the fifth inning.  He set down the first eight batters he faced before giving up a leadoff single to Wentworth senior Pete Oggeri (Sandy Hook, Conn.) to open the eighth.  He would strand Oggeri at first, as he set down the final six batters he faced.  Five of the 14 outs he recorded were via strikeout.  Offensively, Diaz was 3-for-3 with four runs scored and three RBI, while Bursie also chipped in with three hits.  Melcher was 2-for-5 and drove in five runs, while O'Neill and Tapley each recorded two hits.  Silva had allowed six runs on 11 hits in 4.1 innings.

Senior Chris Sandini (Upton, Mass.) took the loss to fall to 3-4.  He struck out six batters, while allowing 11 earned runs on 10 hits.  Sophomore Kyle Cruz (Burlington, Conn.) allowed one run on four hits and struck out three in three innings of work, while Carbone pitched a perfect ninth.  Jordan went 3-for-4, while Carbone was 2-for-4 with four RBI.  Oggeri, McManus, and Danker each had two hits for the Leopards.

With the win Salve Regina improves to 22-16 on the season and travels to top-seeded Curry on Wednesday for a second-round game.  The Colonels defeated Gordon, 5-4, in the other half of the bracket.  Wentworth falls to 24-13 and plays eighth-seeded Gordon Wednesday in an elimination round game.  While technically Wentworth's home game, it will be played at Gordon.