Seahawks complete sweep of Colonels

NEWPORT, R.I. (Wednesday, March 31, 2021) - Salve Regina University baseball ran its season win streak to five games after clinching two victories today against Curry College, 8-4 and 7-3, and its overall unbeaten streak to 10 games (9-0-1). The Seahawks have not lost since getting eliminated by Trinity College, 7-2, in the 2019 NCAA Division III Baseball Regional Championships hosted by the Bantams (May 18, 2019 - over 950 days).

At 1 p.m. today, the Seahawks and Colonels resumed their game that had started at Curry in Milton, Mass., on Sunday. By the time the teams were done at Reynolds Field, Salve Regina freshman right-hander Finn Doherty (Milton, Mass.) finished the final frame.

Graduate student Zach Dionne (Tolland, Conn.) had started and pitched five innings on Sunday before being halted by rain with a 6-2 Seahawk. Salve Regina batted in the top of the sixth and expanded the advantage to 8-2 with a pair of unearned runs. A single, three bases on balls, and a hit batsman put two more runs on the board for the Colonels in the bottom of the eighth inning before closer Andrew Roman (Monson, Mass.) came in from the bullpen to get the final out on a K. Roman surrendered a leadoff infield single to catcher Dylan Ketterer (Plymouth, Mass.) before another strikeout and a double-play grounder ended the game, Madden Ward (Clinton, Conn.) to Chris Veneruso (Westport, Conn.) to Sean O'Malley (Darien, Conn.).

O'Malley had some key hits early in the game on Sunday including a two-run double. Anthony Cieszko (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) and Michael Breen (Auburn, Mass.) set the table at the top of the lineup and scored two runs apiece. Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Player of the Week Matt D'Amato (Midland Park, N.J.) collected two hits on Sunday that did not count in his nomination since the game had not been finished.

In today's regularly-scheduled game, which started at 2:48 p.m. and went seven innings, freshman Tyler Sepinski (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) crushed a leadoff homer in the top of the third to give Curry an early 1-0 lead.

Cieszko (pronounced SEE-ess-KO) and D'Amato had RBI basehits in the Seahawk fourth inning to take a 3-1 advantage. Garrett Fosher (Exeter, N.H.) got a run back for the Colonels when he doubled home Riley Cronin (East Providence, R.I.) in the fifth. Cieszko doubled in Tyler Cannoe (Schenectady, N.Y.) and Justice Welch (Hackensack, N.J.) before crossing the plate himself on a bunt single from D'Amato. D'Amato stole second and came all the way around to score when the throw sailed into centerfield and under the fielder's glove for a 7-2 lead.

Conor Hanlon (Beverly, Mass.) bashed a solo homer to center field for the final score, 7-3. Seahawk head coach Eric Cirella used seven pitchers in the game and five of them combined for a dozen strikeouts - starter Michael Mathews (West Hartford, Conn.) struck out four Colonels, Walker Sharp (Bristol, Conn.) had one K, Chris Beach, Jr. (East Orleans, Mass.) and Doherty both struck out two batters, and Brayden Clark (Beverly, Mass.) got three Curry batters on strikes.

Salve Regina (5-0, 4-0 CCC) returns to the diamond to play a five-game series against Western New England beginning Friday in Springfield, Mass.