Golden Bears run around Reynolds, 10-2

NEWPORT, R.I. -Sophomore shortstop Kevin Marciano (Pepperell, Mass.) stole three bases and scored three runs as Western New England University baseball extended its win streak against Salve Regina University to 13 games with a 10-2 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) victory in seven innings at Reynolds Field.

The Golden Bears (8-11; 4-4 CCC) had already won the opener of the two-game series nine days ago, 5-4, and had to re-visit Newport when rain postponed the second game on March 29. Sophomore lefty Tom Mahoney (Granville, Mass.) made his first start of the season and improved to 1-1 with his complete-game four-hitter.

The Seahawks (15-8; 6-4 CCC) last defeated Western New England University on March 21, 2010; the Golden Bears now have a 20-5 mark in the all-time series.

Marciano led off the game with a single to centerfield, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and stole third. Three of the five Golden Bear stolen bases came at third. Marciano scored the game's first run on a ground out by Scott Hubener (Mendon, Mass.).

Salve Regina tied the score at 1-1 in its bottom half of the first when Daniel Donohue (Westbury, N.Y.) drew a one-out walk, stole second, and came around on Dominic Di Sano's (Central Falls, R.I.) RBI single through the left side. Di Sano raised his team-leading RBI total to 22.

Seahawk starter Frank Lemieux (Marshfield, Mass.), who earlier was announced as the conference's rookie of the week, struck out two of the first three batters he faced in the second. Fellow freshman Kyle Maglio (Glastonbury, Conn.) struck a run-scoring double off Lemieux with two outs and later scored on a double by Marciano for a 3-1 lead.

Ryan Sweenor's (So. Kingstown, R.I.) sacrifice fly to center scored Joe Haley (No. Kingstown, R.I.) with the second Seahawk run, coming with two outs in the second.

Western New England got one more run (unearned) off Lemieux in the third, but Seahawk reliever Kevin Lambert (Fairfield, Conn.) stranded three Golden Bears when he induced a soft liner to Haley at third and then struck out Maglio.

Lambert faced just three batters in the fourth, erasing a one-out single by Hubener with a 1-6-3 double-play grounder. It would be the only scoreless inning for Western New England.

Mahoney benefitted from a twin-killing in the home half of the fourth. Tyler Colby (Easton, Conn.) singled with one out and stole second before Hunter Sleeper (Arlington, Mass.) stroked his second basehit of the day to put runners at the corners. After tossing the ball over to first several times to check on Sleeper, Mahoney got Anthony Conte (Georgetown, Conn.) to ground sharply to T.J. Wyrebek (Bristol, Conn.) who turned a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.

Steve Buckley (Monroe, Conn.) singled to lead off the Golden Bear fifth inning. That was the only hit of the frame but the visitors scored three times to lead 7-2.

Senior designated hitter Jeff Schult (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) had an RBI single during a two-run sixth inning for Western New England. The Golden Bears tacked on an unearned run in the seventh inning after two were out.

Three pinch hitters came to the plate for Salve Regina in the seventh but Mahoney was able to work around a hit batsman (one of three in the game) to keep the Seahawks off the scoreboard.

The Seahawks host Johnson & Wales University on Tuesday at Reynolds Field in a single, nine-inning game. The Golden Bears entertain Framingham State tomorrow after ending a four-game losing streak today.