Neil, Lefelar keep Seahawks close with Cardinals

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Separated by no more than a run over the course of the game, the first-ever meeting of homestanding Wesleyan and Salve Regina in baseball, it took a leaping backhanded grab by Wesleyan senior second baseman Andrew Yin on a liner by Seahawk sophomore Alek Kucich with a runner at second base in the top of the 9th inning to preserve a 4-3 victory for the Cardinals. Ranked third in New England Division III, Wesleyan has won seven of its last eight game for a 15-5 overall record.  Salve Regina dropped to 12-13 overall with the loss.

Each team scored in just two innings during the outing.  Wesleyan took the lead for good in the bottom of the 5th when junior Eric Jones lined a single into left field that Seahawk freshman left fielder Connor Duffy nearly made a spectacular catch on, fully extending on a dive but having the ball glance off his glove. On the play, senior Jon Dennett scored to put Wesleyan up, 4-3.

Dennett had walked and stolen second to get into scoring position.  Earlier in the frame, senior Donnie Cimino led off with a single, stole second and moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Yin.  Cimino then scored on a deep fly to center by senior Sam Goodwin-Boyd to tie the game, 3-3.

The teams then played the final four innings scoreless.

Salve Regina took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st with an unearned run as two Cardinal errors, combined with a bunt single by leadoff batter freshman John Militano and an RBI single by senior Joe Haley, led to the run. Wesleyan took its first lead with two runs in the 2nd inning, one of them unearned. Dennett walked, and with one out, moved to second on a bloop single to center by sophomore Marco Baratta. A successful double-steal and errant throw allowed Dennett to score and Baratta to move to third. Baratta then scored on a groundout by senior Ben Hoynes.

Salve Regina regained the lead in the 3rd with two more unearned runs off Cardinal junior starter Peter Rantz, who went 6.1 innings, allowing seven hits and no earned runs with five strikeouts and one walk.  He upped his record on the year to 3-1 with the victory.  An infield error with two outs opened the door for the Seahawks as they got an infield single from senior Daniel Donohue and a walk to freshman Christian Vargas to load the bases.  Sophomore Cory Blankmeyer then lined a single into left-center field for two RBI and a 3-2 Salve Regina advantage.

Senior Sam Elias relieved Rantz in the 6th inning and tossed 2.2 innings of shutout ball with no hits, a walk and three strikeouts to pick up his third save of the year to go along with his 4-0 record.  Reliever junior John McDermott took the loss for Salve as he took over for sophomore starter Cole Tretter and yielded three hits and two runs in 1.2 innings of work.  Tretter was touched for just one hit during his three innings of action but issued four walks.  Freshmen Matt Wood and Kyle Lefelar combined to allow only one more Cardinal safety in the final 3.1 innings as Salve Regina outhit Wesleyan, 7-5.

Salve Regina is back in action Sat., April 18 with a CCC double-header at Gordon. Wesleyan heads to Middlebury Fri., April 17 to begin a three-game NESCAC West series with a single game.