#8/10 Seahawks receive NCAA at-large bid to compete in Cortland regional

NEWPORT, R.I. (Monday, May 13, 2024) -- Salve Regina University baseball will compete in the regionals of the NCAA Championships on May 17-19, after the program finished the regular season 33-8 and received an at-large bid to the dance.

#20/21 SUNY Cortland is slated to host Salve Regina, Colby College and Washington & Jefferson College in the regional on the Red Dragons' home field (Wallace Field in Cortland, New York). This winner will move on to the super-regional, hosted by Babson College, the 2024 NEWMAC champions.

In the NEWMAC tournament the Seahawks received a bye from games one and two as the No. 1 seed in the conference. In game three Salve Regina fell 5-2 to the Wheaton College Lyons. The following day in game six against the United States Coast Guard Academy, Tyler Petrosino (Beverly, Mass.) entered the game as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the nineth and hit a sacrifice fly to center field which allowed Brandon Grover (Ashland, Mass.) to advance home for a 4-3 walk-off. In game seven, the Babson College Beavers cut the Seahawks 8-1 to eliminate them from the tournament. 

Washington & Jefferson enters the regional as the 2024 Presidents' Athletic Conference champions with a 32-12 overall record. Colby is 29-10 after beating Williams College but losing to the eventual NESCAC champion, Middlebury College, and Tufts University in the postseason. Cortland is the SUNYAC runner-up after losing a pair of games to SUNY New Paltz to end the tournament.

"We're obviously thrilled to be in the regional's again for the fifth consecutive season," said manager Eric Cirella '05. "I think our body of work is more than representative of a No.1 seed. The Cortland regional is extremely challenging. We're just focusing on playing good baseball and doing the things we traditionally do well. It's more about preparing to play well and less about preparing for your opponent in my opinion. If we play well, we can compete with anyone. If we don't, anyone can beat us."

Friday, May 19
Game 1: (#1 seed) Salve Regina (33-8) vs. (#4 seed) Colby (29-10), 10 a.m.
Game 2: (#2 seed) Cortland (30-12-1) vs. (#3 seed) Washington & Jefferson (31-10), 1:30 p.m.

Across all varsity sports Salve Regina has faced the trio of Washington & Jefferson, Colby and Cortland seven times with the most recent being baseball's 3-1 win over Washington & Jefferson on March 12, 2019. 

Cortland won the NCAA title in 2015 and the Red Dragons were the runners-up in 2005 and 2010. In 2017, Washington & Jefferson were the runners up to California Lutheran University. Colby and Salve Regina have never made it to the finals of the DIII College World Series. This is the fifth year in a row that the Seahawks have proceeded to the NCAAs. Prior to 2019 Salve Regina made it past the conference championships in 2001, 2005, 2016 and 2017.

In 2023 the Seahawks received an at-large bid to the NCAAs in a regional hosted by Misericordia University. On day one Salve Regina shutout Keystone College 10-0 and on day two the Seahawks beat the host Cougars, 11-4. On the final day of the regional, Misericordia won both games to advance to the super-regional. 

University of Lynchburg is the reigning 2023 national champion. 

Find the 2024 DIII NCAA bracket here.