Baseball Suffers CCC Tournament Loss

NEWPORT, R.I. – Sophomore Vincent Roth (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) allowed just two extra base hits over 7.2 strong innings on the mound for the Seahawks as the Salve Regina baseball team defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology, 9-3, in the second round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament.

With the victory, the Seahawks (29-10) advance to the weekend portion of the tournament as the only undefeated team in the tournament while fifth-seeded Wentworth (16-16) will face top-seeded Western New England (29-10) in an elimination game in Springfield, Mass. tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. The Golden Bears were upset by fourth-seeded Roger Williams, 7-5. Salve Regina will face the winner of that game at 3:30 p.m.

Junior Dominic Di Sano (Central Falls, R.I.) got the Seahawks off to an early lead with an infield single to score freshman Ryan Kelly (Waldwick, N.J.). Freshman Sam McManus (Hopkinton, Mass.) lead off the second with a walk but was quickly erased as Di Sano fired a strike to first baseman freshman Ryan Sweenor (South Kingston, R.I.) to pick him off as Roth faced just two over the minimum over the first three innings.

Wentworth broke through in the top of the fourth to take a 2-1 lead. With the bases loaded and one out, sophomore Scott Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine) reached on a fielder's choice and drove home classmate Jake Mailman (Medway, Mass.). With runners on the corners, Wentworth successfully completed a double steal of second and home as freshman J.P. Dennehy (Danbury, Conn.) crossed the plate to give the Leopards their only lead of the game.

Salve Regina quickly responded in the bottom half of the fourth to take the lead back for good. With runners on second and third, junior Anthony Conte (Georgetown, Mass.) doubled down the left field line to drive home classmate Nicholas Dell'Anno (Reading, Mass.) and sophomore Tim Harris (Southbury, Conn.). After Kelly worked a seven-pitch walk, Sweenor doubled to left field to bring home Conte and move Kelly to third. Junior Tyler Colby (Easton, Conn.) brought Kelly around on a sacrifice fly to center to give the Seahawks a 5-2 lead.

Wentworth plated its final run of the game in the top of the sixth on an RBI-single from Dennehy to score sophomore Joe Hulme (Tewksbury, Mass.). The Leopards loaded the bases with just one out, but Roth got a foul out and a flyout to get out of the jam.

Di Sano doubled home Colby before Harris brought him home with a single in the seventh to push the Salve Regina lead to 7-3. The Seahawks tacked on two more runs in the eighth to take a 9-3 lead. With two outs, Kelly reached on an error before coming around to score on a double from Sweenor. After Sweenor advanced to third on a wild pitch, Colby singled him home for the final run of the game.

Roth, who allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out four, was relieved by junior Kevin Lambert (Fairfield, Conn.) to get the final out in the eighth. Lambert went an inning and a third and gave up just one hit and one walk. Junior Ben Lewis (Middletown, R.I.) took the loss for Wentworth after allowing seven runs (four earned) on 10 hits and two walks while striking out six Seahawks.

Harris led the Seahawks at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI while Conte, Sweenor and Colby each drove in two runs. Kelly crossed the plate three times to lead Salve Regina. Dennehy, Ouellette and junior Paul Dassau (Franklin, Mass.) each collected a pair of hits for Wentworth.

(Portions of this recap courtesy of Salve Regina Sports Information)