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, Friday afternoon.
With the victory, the Seahawks (29-10) advance to the weekend portion of the tournament as the only undefeated team in the tournament while #5 Wentworth (16-16) will face #1 Western New England (29-10) in an elimination game in Springfield, Mass. tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. The number-three seeded Seahawks 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 Scott 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 finally got on the scoreboard 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 sophomore 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 Salve Regina 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 senior Ryan Delgado (Wareham, Mass.) to foul out to sophomore Joe Haley (North Kingston, R.I.) at third and junior Paul Dassau (Franklin, Mass.) to fly out to Kelly in center to end the inning.
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 fielding error by the Wentworth shortstop 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.
Dassau led off Wenthworth's final inning with an single but was erased on a fielder's choice for the first out of the frame. Senior Alex Wong (Lewiston, Maine) followed with a fielder's choice of his own to get the Leopards down to their final out. Hulme worked a four-pitch walk before Mailmain popped up to shallow left field to end the game and keep Salve Regina undefeated in the conference tournament.
Roth pitched 7.2 strong innings before being relieved by junior Kevin Lambert (Fairfield, Conn.)to get the final out in the eighth. Roth allowed just three runs on seven hits while striking out four. Lambert went 1.1 and gave up just one hit and one walk. Junior Ben Lewis (Middletown, R.I.) took the loss for Wenthworth after allowing seven runs, four earned, on 10 hits and two walks while striking out six Seahawks.
Harris once again 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 Dassau each collected a pair of hits for Wentworth.
With Western New England also losing today, the Leopards will face the number-one seeded Golden Bears in an elimination game at 11 a.m. while the Seahawks await the outcome to play the winner in the final game of the day at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow.