Seahawks, Hawks deadlocked at 11 runs apiece before darkness

BRISTOL, R.I. (April 5, 2022) - The ball was flying on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon at Paolino Field as the Roger Williams University baseball team played Salve Regina University to an 11-11 tie before the game was called due to darkness. In a chippy, see-saw affair, that saw ten different pitchers, four ties, three home runs, and a whopping 48 baserunners across just under four hours of baseball, the hard-fought contest resulted in a greatly disappointing draw.

With the result, the Hawks move to 17-1-1 on the season and 4-0-1 in Commonwealth Coast Conference play. The tie is the first the RWU baseball team has been a part of since 2019 when they played Curry College to a 5-5 draw through eight innings. It is interestingly enough the second-straight game that has concluded in a tie for the Seahawks as they now stand at 10-6-2 on the year and 4-0-2 in CCC competition.

No pitchers received a decision in the contest but as it was neither starting pitcher would have qualified had a winner been determined as they both got shelled during their time on the mound. Brayden Clark (Beverly, Mass.) got the ball for SRU throwing the first 3.1 innings allowing six runs on seven hits, four of them for extra-bases, and a walk. Dan Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) got the nod for RWU and he made it longer than his counterpart, pitching 4.2 innings allowing five runs on eight hits and a trio of walks.

In a contest between two teams who possess a pair of the best pitching staffs in the nation, this game served as an anomaly as the 11 runs allowed by each squad is the second-most the Hawks have allowed in a single contest this season while it is the third-highest total the Seahawks have permitted in a game so far this spring.

Hawk Highlights

• Brandon Jenkins: 3-for-4, 3B, HR, BB, 3 RBI, RS
• Tyler Cedeno: 3-for-5, 2 2B, SB, BB, 3 RBI, 2 RS
• Ben Bonavita: 2-for-4, HR, BB, RBI, 2 RS
• Owen Hibbard: 2-for-5, 2 RS
• Dan Massaro: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
• Kyle Schaefer: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K

Seahawk Highlights

• Wil McCarthy: 1-for-2, HR, 3 BB, RBI, 2 RS
• Michael Breen: 3-for-6, 2B, RBI, RS
• Tyler Cannoe: 2-for-4, BB, 2 RBI, RS
• Dylan Ketch: 2-for-4, BB, 2 RS
• Brayden Clark: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• Andrew Roman: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

How It Happened

Contrary to the rest of the game, the first inning was a quiet one. Dan Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) operated around a two-out walk in a scoreless frame. Then in the home half, Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) hit a popup down the leftfield line, but the defense was swung around for him to pull, and it dropped in. He got to second and despite the ball already being in the hands of an infielder, he just kept on running to the vacated third base for a heads-up three-bagger. Nick Zobian (Califon, N.J.) followed with a free pass but they both were stranded.

Things started to get interesting in the second. Dylan Ketch (Clinton, Conn.) led off with a single into center and two batters later he went first-to-third on a Brandon Grover (Ashland, Mass.) single. Grover proceeded to swipe second but the throw by Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.) was high and wide and Mike Masino (Bayville, N.J.) could not handle it allowing Ketch to come home as Grover advanced to third. After Tyler Petrosino (Beverly, Mass.) took ball four, Dustin Siqueira (Trumbull, Conn.) executed a safety squeeze bunt to plate a second run. A couple batters later, Michael Breen (Auburn, Mass.) dumped a double into left to plate Petrosino and the guests had a 3-0 advantage.

Roger Williams would respond with a bang off Brayden Clark (Beverly, Mass.) in the bottom of the inning. Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) got it started by taking the second pitch of the frame and blasting it over the left-center field fence for a solo shot, his third of the season. The long ball sent a resounding message that the Hawks would not go down quietly to their in-state foes and the offense was far from done. Alternating with the first two outs of the inning, the hosts got a trio of singles from Morin, Owen Hibbard (Roxbury, Conn.), and Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) with the last of the bunch plating a run. That brought up Jenkins again who, after getting extra-bases on soft contact his first time at the dish, left little doubt in his second trip demolishing a three-run shot down the right field line, his third of the spring, to jettison RWU into the lead and while they would never trail again, the score would be even on various occasions.

Like the Hawks in the inning prior, Salve Regina had an answer in the third. Wil McCarthy (Pembroke, Mass.), who did not even start the game having entered at third base after Sean O'Malley (Darien, Conn.) was injured on the Jenkins triple, got a pitch to hammer in an 0-1 count and hammer it he did for his first career long ball to left-center. Then in the fourth Tyler Cannoe (Schenectady, N.Y.) tied the score with a run-scoring single.

Following a one-out double and a steal of third by Hibbard in the fourth, the Seahawks made a change on the mound. The first of the small station's-worth of firemen that they employed on the evening would be Graham Jeffries (Chelmsford, Mass.). He completed a walk of Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) then drilled Jenkins with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases for Zobian. He would come through with a single through and into left field, plating a pair as the hosts regained the advantage, 7-5.

Roger Williams added some insurance in the fifth as Bonavita singled, Masino walked, and they both advanced on a soft groundout by Hibbard. Cedeno came up and blasted a two-bagger over the head of the centerfielder Grover's head, hitting the base of the fence and plating a pair of runs. He proceeded to swipe third and then crossed the plate on a wild pitch and the hosts had a 10-5 advantage.

The Seahawks began to chip away in the seventh as they got a run-scoring single from Siqueira and an RBI-groundout from Matt D'Amato (Midland Park, N.J.) and while RWU maintained the 10-7 edge it felt like it could have been more as they left the bases loaded in both the sixth and seventh innings and all those deserted baserunners would wind up hurting.

After Cannoe leadoff with a single off reliever Kyle Schaefer (Madison, Conn.), the Hawks turned to the bullpen for the second time, calling upon Brett Lauterbach (Fairfield, Conn.). The young righty balked before throwing his first pitch and did not seem to recover as he issued a free pass to McCarthy on four pitches then drilled Ketch to load the sacks. His second balk of the inning was called as he induced what likely would have been a critical double play but instead a run crossed a plate on the call and a few pitches later Matthew Neal (Ashland, Mass.) recorded a run-scoring groundout. Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.) would enter to try to shut it down with the tying run on third and allowed the inherited runner to score on a wild pitch, tying the score, though nothing more would come of it.

RWU regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth as Morin drew a walk, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and then was pinch run for by Justin Piskorski (Berlin, Conn.). Cedeno brought in the run a couple batters later with a double. SRU brought in their sixth and final reliever of the game, Eddie Hardiman (Danvers, Mass.) who avoided any further issues, but the hosts had a shot to finish the deal as Harz remained in the game with an 11-10 edge into the ninth.

Once again, however, the guests responded as Jared Beniers (Abington, Mass.) pinch hit for D'Amato and singled to right then Breen singled to allow Beniers to go first-to-third. Cannoe hit a sacrifice fly and once again, we were even, this time at 11 apiece.

The Hawks could not do anything with a leadoff walk in the ninth against Hardiman before the exceptionally well-contested game that felt as though it deserved an outcome was called due to the impending darkness resulting in a tie.