Baseball sweeps conference opener

NEWPORT, R.I. – Despite cool temperatures outside, the Salve Regina baseball bats stayed hot as the Seahawks blasted 35 total runs in their doubleheader sweep of Eastern Nazarene to open Commonwealth Coast Conference play, Saturday afternoon. 

With the pair of wins, the Seahawks improve to 9-3 on the year and open their CCC schedule 2-0 while the Lions fall to 2-8 on the season and 0-2 in the conference. 

After sophomore right hander Kyle Pheland (No. Sciuate, R.I.) kept the Lions off the board in the top of the first, the Salve Regina bats came alive in the home half of the inning, plating 10 runs after sending 16 men to the plate. 

Freshman Ryan Kelly (Waldwick, N.J.) and junior Daniel Donohue (Westbury, N.Y.) welcomed Lions' pitcher junior Anthony Berroa (Teaneck, N.J.) with back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. Freshman Ryan Sweenor (South Kingston, R.I.)  drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases for Salve Regina. Berroa then walked the next three batters he faced to bring in three runs to give Salve Regina 3-0 lead. Junior Tyler Colby (Easton, Conn.) broke up the string of walks with his first hit of the game with a single to left field to score junior Dominic Di Sano (Central Falls, R.I.) and keep the bases loaded. Berroa finally recorded an out as he got junior Anthony Conte (Georgetown, Mass.) to ground into a fielder's choice, getting Colby out at second but bringing home sophomore Joe Haley (North Kingston, R.I.). 

After a fielder's choice from sophomore Sean Becker (Richmond, Va.) once again loaded the bases, Kelly came up for the second time in the inning and laced a triple to straight away centerfield to clear the bases and give Salve Regina an 8-0 lead. Donohue gave himself up with a sacrifice bunt to bring home Kelly from third, but an error by the Lions' first baseman allowed him to reach safely for the second time in the inning. Donohue eventually came around to score after bases-loaded walk was issued to junior Nicholas Dell'Anno (Reading, Mass.), his second of the inning. 

Freshman relief pitcher Spyro Varetimos (North Attleboro, Mass.) worked himslef out of bases-loaded trouble, getting Colby to line out to left, but the damage had been done and the Seahawks led, 10-0, after one full inning. 

The Lions went quietly in the second before Salve Regina posted six more runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 16-0 lead. The Seahawks batted around for the second-straight inning as every batter but one reached base safely with two of the outs coming on fielder's choices. 

Eastern Nazarene finally broke through in the top of the third to cut into the Salve Regina lead, 16-2. After getting the lead off hitter, the next two Lions reached base safely on two errors by the Seahawks, the second of the two bringing home freshman Bradley Hampton (South Daytona, Fla.). Sophomore Jake Koch (Dayton, Nev.) collected ENC's third hit of the game to bring home senior Michael Chiaradio (Teaneck, N.J.). 

The Seahawks answered with a pair of runs of their own in the bottom of the third from a pair of RBI singles from Di Sano and sophomore Tim Harris (Southbury, Conn.). 

The Lions plated two more in the top of the fourth and held Salve Regina to first of only two 1-2-3 innings in both games in the home half of the fourth. The Seahawks did answer, however and plated two more runs in the fifth and three in the sixth. 

The Lions made their final push in the top of the seventh, scoring four runs but the lead was to great at that point and the Seahawks took the first game, 23-8. Hampton opened the final frame reaching on an error by the Salve Regina left fielder and was moved to second off a ground out by Chiaradio. An infield single from Berroa brought home Hampton for the Lions first run of the inning. Sophomore Ryan Garza (Elsa, Texas) doubled home Berroa before junior David Manning (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) roped a two-run double to right to cap the scoring. Freshman John McDermott (Bedford Hills, N.Y.) got junior Matt Jayne to fly out to left to end the inning and the game. 

The Lions sprinted out of the gates in the second game with a four-run first inning, but the Seahawks roared right back with an eight-run second to take control of the game. The Lions scored their first four runs behind two Seahawk errors and two hits while sending all nine men to the plate. 

Salve Regina answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, but really came alive in the bottom of the second. With the bases loaded and two runs across, Haley hit comebacker to the Lions pitcher who went to first with the ball and allowed Conte to cross the plate and tie the game, 4-4. After a walk to Di Sano to load the bases, the Seahawks strung together three-straight hits, two singles and a two-run triple from sophomore Mark Boland (Orange, Conn.) to take the lead, 9-4 after two innings. 

Sweenor pushed his RBI collected his only two RBI of day in the bottom of the third with a two-run blast over the left field fence to push the Seahawk lead to 11-4. 

The Lions got one run back in the fifth but Salve Regina answered in the sixth. Eastern Nazarene capped its scoring with a run in the seventh, but junior reliever Kevin Lambert (Fairfield, Pa.) shut the door on the Lions catching Manning watching the final pitch of the game to earn the three inning save. 

Pheland earned the win in the first game, going four strong innings, allowing seven four runs, two earned, on seven hits and one walk while striking out three. Junior Vincent Roth (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) picked up the win in the second game, going four innings, allowing four runs, none earned on five hits and three walks while striking out four. 

Di Sano led the way at the plate for Salve Regina, going 3-for-5, scoring four runs while driving in six runs on two doubles. Kelly went 4-for-8 at the plate, scoring six runs and drove in four batters. 

Salve Regina returns to the diamond when the Seahawks host Rhode Island College on Tuesday, March 26 at Brother Reynolds Field. The first pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.