Baseball Falls in ECAC Quarterfinals, 7-2

BROOKLINE, Mass. – Freshman Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.) went 3-for-5 while sophomore Matt Sliney (Brockton, Mass.) pitched eight and two-thirds innings to pick up the win as fifth-seeded Suffolk defeated fourth-seeded Wentworth, 7-2, in the opening round of the 2011 ECAC Division III New England Baseball Tournament.

Eight other players tallied hits for the Rams (24-20), while Cintolo also scored a pair of runs and junior Steve Schultz (Salem, N.H.) drove in two runs.  Senior Mike Diodato (Asbury, N.J.) closed out his collegiate career for the Leopards (24-16) with a 3-for-4 afternoon while senior Matt Jordan (Concord, N.H.) was 1-for-2 with three walks.

The Rams took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Cintolo delivered a one-out single to right center and advanced to second when freshman Devan Jones (Roslindale, Mass.) was hit by a pitch.  Both runners moved up 90 feet on a senior Andrew Babb (Ashland, Mass.) walk and Cintolo came one on a sacrifice fly from senior Mark Annese (Winchester, Mass.).

Wentworth had the bases loaded with two outs in the second inning as an infield single from Diodato, a double from junior Justin Bolla (Groveland, Mass.) and a walk to sophomore Ryan Delgado (Wareham, Mass.) put the Leopards in a position to tie the game, but a costly baserunning error on a pickoff play ended the threat.

Suffolk put up five runs in the third inning to break the game open, with a two-run double down the left field line from Schultz, an RBI single from sophomore Chris Stanley (Orange County, Calif.), an RBI on a safety squeeze by freshman Michael Muse (Milton, Mass.), and a triple off the bat of senior Nick Travelyn (Bedford, N.H.) accounted for the scoring.

In the home half of the inning the Leopards loaded the bases with no outs on back-to-back walks to senior Brendon Duffy (Lynn, Mass.) and Jordan and a single to freshman Jon Spitz (Hanover, Mass.).  However, Sliney got back-to-back strikeouts and a flyout to right to end the threat.  Two innings later Wentworth once again loaded the bases, with Jordan and junior Conner Flisnik (Marcy, N.Y.) walking and senior Ben Danker (Branford, Conn.) hitting an infield single.  Sliney got out of the jam with a foul fly to first to end the inning.

Wentworth broke through in the sixth inning as Diodato led off with a double left center and came around to score on a Delgado single up the middle.

The Rams added a single run in the ninth on a home run to left from Jones to make it a 7-1 game.  In the home half of the inning Duffy delivered a one-out single, which was followed by a Jordan walk.  Spitz flew out, allowing freshman pinch-runner Paul Dassau (Franklin, Mass.) to move to third and, after Jordan moved to second on defensive indifference, Flisnik and Danker drew back-to-back walks to score Dassau.  Junior Tim Belanger (Raynham, Mass.) came in to relieve Sliney and induced a game-ending groundout to record his first save of the season.

Sliney allowed two runs on nine hits while striking out five and walking nine to improve to 3-3 on the season.  Wentworth junior Adam Farrar (Newport, Vt.) took the loss (4-4), allowing six runs on seven hits in three innings.  Classmate Kyle Cruz (Burlington, Conn.) allowed one run on four hits and struck out three over the final six innings.

Suffolk advances to play the winner of the Endicott/Becker game in Saturday's semifinal round, while Wentworth sees its season come to an end with a 24-16 record.  The six seniors of this year's Leopard squad ended their careers with a program-best 105-63-1 record.