Cirella picks up 300th win

NEWPORT, R.I.- The Salve Regina baseball team held off a late inning rally by Becker to notch head coach Steve Cirella's 300th win at the helm of the Seahawks. The game was called after the top of the eighth inning due to darkness and rain as the Seahawks defeated the Hawks, 8-5.

Salve Regina (12-5) used a pair of three-run innings en route to its 8-5 win over Becker (0-16) with each three-run inning followed by a single run in the next frame.  

The Seahawks jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in their first at bat on three hits and two errors in the bottom of the first. With two away, junior Tyler Colby (Easton, Conn.) took the first pitch he saw to right field to extend the inning for Salve Regina. With the count full and Colby running on the pitch, junior Dominic Di Sano (Central Falls, R.I.) sent a routine fly ball to right field that was dropped by the Becker right fielder and Colby scored easily. Sophomore Joe Haley (North Kingston, R.I.) lined a hard hit ball towards the gap in left, but the ball found the field umpire instead of outfield grass to put runners on first and second for freshman Ryan Sweenor (South Kingstown, R.I.). Sweenor followed with a single to right center to bring home Di Sano and move Haley to third. Haley came around to score after Sweenor stole second and the Becker catcher threw the ball away.

Freshman started Sean Healy (Wakefield, R.I.) induced a pair of ground balls and picked up his second strikeout of the game to get the Hawks in order in the top of the second before Salve Regina tacked on another run in the home half of the frame. Sophomore Sean Becker (Richmond, Va.) dropped in a blooper single to left to drive home sophomore Matt Conroy (Philadelphia, Pa.) to push the Salve Regina lead to 4-0 after two innings.

The Hawks got just their second base runner of the game as senior Todd Tompkins (West Haven, Conn.) picked up his second hit of the ball game with a single to center but freshman Ryan Kelly (Waldwick, N.J.) ended the inning with a web-gem worthy diving catch in center to keep Becker off the board and end the top of the third.

Salve Regina pushed its lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the fourth with a bases-clearing called infield fly and error. With the bases full, Kelly lifted a ball between short stop and left field that for an infield fly, but an errant throw by the left fielder allowed junior Nicholas Dell'Anno (Reading, Mass.), Conroy and junior Anthony Conte (Georgetown, Mass.) all to cross the plate for a 6-0 Seahawk lead.

The Hawks finally broke through on the score board in the top of the fifth with two runs on two hits and a Seahawk error. With the bases loaded, junior Mike Marcello (West Haven, Conn.) sent a fly ball to center that was dropped that allowed Tompkins and sophomore Keon Jenkins (Nashua, N.H.) to score to cut the lead to 7-2. Healy got junior Taylor Kapulka (Worcester, Mass.) to fly out to right and end the inning.

As they did in the first two innings, the Seahawks followed their three-run inning with a run in the next frame. Sweenor drilled a 2-0 pitch deep to center field that appeared to leave the park, but after he was called back to second for a ground rule double, Dell'Anno followed with a single up the middle to bring him home to give Salve Regina an 8-2 lead after five innings.

With the rain starting to really come down, the Hawks plated three more runs in the top of the seventh to cut the lead to three at 8-5 but the Salve Regina pitching staff was able to get out of the scoring threat to hold on to the lead. Marcello led off the Hawks seventh with a solo home run to right field on a 1-0 pitch. The Hawks loaded the bases with one out and a run across for senior Austin Phillips (Thomson, Ga.). Phillips collected his only RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to right for the second out of the inning.  Senior Eric Lajoie (Oakham, Mass.) reached on a throwing error by the Seahawk third baseman to score Kapulka to cut the lead to 8-5 but relief pitcher junior Kevin Lambert (Fairfield, Conn.) got Tompkins out for the first time in the game and end the inning.

After the Seahawks went down in order in the seventh, the Hawks got two runners in scoring position, Lambert got Tony D'Addio (West Haven, Conn.) looking at the final pitch of the ball game to seal with 8-5 win and Cirella's 300th win.

Healy earned his second win on the season on the mound while Lambert picked up his first save of the season while junior Trenton Gibson (Henderson, Nev.) suffered the loss for the Hawks.

Salve Regina returns to the diamond tomorrow as the Seahawks host Southern Vermont tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.