Di Sano 7 RBI in Game One; Seahawks sweep Colonels

NEWPORT, R.I. - Senior catcher and captain Dominic Di Sano (Central Falls, R.I.) belted the first home run of the season, and sixth of his career, as Salve Regina University baseball broke out of its two-game scoreless drought with 26 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) rival Curry College. Salve Regina (10-3; 2-0 CCC) won Game One, 21-2, and then defeated Curry (5-8; 0-2 CCC) in Game Two, 5-3.

The sweep in the conference openers made winners out of starting pitchers Vincent Roth (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.), now 3-0 on the season, and Kyle Pheland (No. Scituate, R.I.) who improves to 2-0.

The Seahawks put Game One out of reach early, scoring three times in the first inning and then 13 more runs in the second inning. Sophomore centerfielder Ryan Kelly (Waldwick, N.J.) swung at the first pitch he saw from Colonels' starter Ben Carrasco (San Francisco, Calif.) and doubled to centerfield leading off the bottom of the first. After Dan Donohue (Westbury, N.Y.) singled to put runners at the corners, Di Sano singled for his first of seven RBI in the opener.

After Curry scored a run in its second inning, the Seahawks crossed the plate a season-high 13 times in the bottom half. Freshman infielder Hunter Sleeper (Arlington, Mass.) and senior Anthony Conte (Georgetown, Mass.) led off the frame with back-to-back singles. Kelly plated Sleeper with a grounder through the left side. Di Sano's double brought in two more runs.

Sophomore Ryan Sweenor (South Kingstown, R.I.) had an RBI single and senior Nicholas Dell'Anno (Reading, Mass.) delivered two runs with a single up the middle. Travis Levesque (Middleboro, Mass.) came in to pitch for Carrasco. In the same inning, Sleeper and Conte contributed RBI singles.

After hitting Kelly with a pitch, Levesque then issued three straight bases-loaded walks to Donohue, Di Sano, and Tyler Colby (Easton, Conn.).

Chris Smith (Scituate, Mass.), the third Colonels' pitcher in the second, inherited a bases-loaded situation and struck out the first batter he faced before surrendering a two-run single to Sweenor.

In the Seahawk third, Sleeper led off with a walk and Conte singled to left field. Smith struck out two more Salve Regina batters before Di Sano struck the first round tripper of the season for the Seahawks, raising the score to 19-1.

Mark Boland (Orange, Conn.) batted for Conte in the fourth and had a pinch-hit RBI single. A bases-loaded ground out by Donohue produced the 21st run of the game for Salve Regina. It marked the 14th time Salve Regina has scored as many as 21 in a game, only the third time in the last 10 years. Seahawks had a 23-8 conference opener against Eastern Nazarene last season (March 23, 2013).

Roth tossed five innings of three-hit ball allowing just one earned run while striking out three Colonels' batters. Garrett Franzoi (Dallas, Texas) and Gabe Cretella (Seymour, Conn.) pitched the sixth and seventh innings, respectively.

Curry opened Game Two with two runs against Pheland in the top of the first. R.J. McCann (Brockton, Mass.) had a five-pitch walk to lead off the game. Freshman outfielder Alex McLean (Eliot, Maine) doubled to put runners at the corners. After a strike out, Phil Perez (West Covina, Calif.) singled to left center to score McCann.

Ryan Kelly robbed Matt Warren (Wilbraham, Mass.) of a basehit with a diving catch in right center, but the designated hitter earned an RBI with the sacrifice liner. Kelly reached first base leading off the next frame and stole second. Salve Regina designated hitter Alek Kucich (Old Brookville, N.Y.) followed with an RBI single through the right side.

Joe Haley's (No. Kingstown, R.I.) ground out to first base scored Kucich with the tying run, 2-2. Salve Regina moved ahead, 3-2, with an unearned run later in the inning.

Curry scored the equalizer in the second inning with an unearned run, and missed taking the lead on a well-executed relay to home plate. Two infield errors had runners at first and second with one out before McCann doubled to left field. Catcher Nick Crivello (Millville, Mass.) scored easily from second but Tim Lathrop (Colchester, Conn.) was cut down at the plate on left fielder Sweenor to shortstop Donohue to catcher Di Sano. The score remained 3-3 into the sixth inning.

Pheland faced just three batters in each of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. A leadoff walk in the fourth was erased on a 6-4-3 double play. Colonels' starter Thomas Fitzpatrick (South Boston, Mass.) enjoyed similar success in the fourth and fifth innings.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Colby singled to center field. Donohue tripled to left center for the go-ahead run, and later scored an insurance run on Sweenor's ground out to third. In the seventh, the Colonels loaded the bases against reliever Kevin Lambert (Fairfield, Conn.) but the senior closer got the save and final out on a fielder's choice to Donohue who stepped on second to complete the sweep.

Salve Regina now has a four-game win streak against Curry. The Seahawks host the Monks of St. Joseph's College tomorrow in a single non-league game (1 p.m.); the Colonels next play at Bridgewater State University on Tuesday.