Newport, RI --- The WPI baseball team wrapped up its regular season with a doubleheader split with No. 6 Salve Regina on Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Field. The Seahawks took game one with an 11-0 run-rule victory before the Engineers bounced back in game two to come away with a 6-5 victory to close out the regular season with a win.  

Dominic Monico (Litchfield, NH) picked up the pitching victory for WPI in the nightcap pitching six innings and allowing just six hits and one earned run while striking out four.   The win was the rookie's third this spring. 

With the victory today, WPI netted its first 20-win season since the 2019 season which was also the last time the team made an appearance in the NEWMAC Championship. The Engineers finished the 2024 regular season with a 20-16-1 record, 8-8 in conference action. D3Baseball's No. 6 team in the nation, Salve Regina finished the regular season with a 32-6 record, 13-3 in NEWMAC action.   The Seahawks were forced to share the regular season NEWMAC title with Coast Guard, which swept Emerson on Saturday, but did nab the top seed in the conference tournament via a tiebreaker. 

GAME ONE

Salve got on board early and often putting a pair of runs on the board in the first inning, while adding five more runs in the second. WPI starting pitcher Owen Radcliffe (Holliston, MA) was able to get two outs in the second inning, but left the game after 1.2 innings of action allowing seven hits and six earned runs.  

Ethan Smith (Hanson, MA) entered in the second and pitched 3.1 innings allowing five hits and four earned runs while Luke Blandino (Eden, NY) closed out the game throwing one inning of action in the loss, allowing a pair of hits but no runs.  

The Seahawks added another trio of runs in the fourth and a run in the fifth en route to the run rule, 11-0 victory. Wil McCarthy (Pembroke, MA) led Salve with a 4-for-4 outing, earning a pair of RBIs while scoring a duo of runs in the outing.  

GAME TWO 

Game two was a much tighter ballgame as the Engineers were the first to get on the board, putting the first run of the day on the scoreboard in the third inning. Liam Keblin (Newton, MA) started things off with an infield single then stole second. With two outs on the board, Andrew Cash (Marlboro, MA) singled to the pitcher to put runners on the corners and Tommy Burns (Morris Plains, NJ) followed that up with a single to centerfield to make it a 1-0 game.  

One inning later the Engineers added four more runs to build up a 5-0 lead. Matt Shea (Andover, MA) started the inning off with a single up the middle, advancing to second on a wild pitch. Jeff Zawacki (Pittsford, NY) reached on a throwing error by the Salve shortstop and then Keblin reached on a bunt single to load the bases for the Engineers.  

DJ Brooks (Danvers, MA) followed that up with a walk and Jacob Hand (Niskayuna, NY) was hit by a pitch to make it a 3-0 game and prompted a Seahawk pitching change. However, the patient Engineers drew back-to-back walks to put another pair of runs on the board for the five-run lead.  

Salve answered back in the sixth inning adding its first run of the day, but WPI got that run back in the top of the eighth as Keblin once again started things off with a single to centerfield, advancing to second during Brooks' at bat and then coming home on a double down the leftfield line by Hand. 

That run would ultimately turn out to be the game deciding run as Salve Regina was able to put four runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth to get within one before WPI ended their threat with a double play to end the inning as a line out to Brooks doubled off the runner at second as he got the ball quickly to hand for the threat-ender. 

In the ninth, Eric DePiero (Beverly, MA) stepped up and kept the Seahawks off the board as WPI walked away with the regular season-ending victory for the starting pitcher Monico. 

NEXT UP

Fifth-seeded WPI will kick off the NEWMAC Tournament on Wednesday, May 8 when it heads to Norton, MA to take on No. 4 seed Wheaton for a 3:30 play-in game against the Lyons. The winner of that game will square off against No. 1 seed Salve Regina in the double elimination portion of the tournament on Friday, May 10 at 3:30pm.