CCC BASEBALL: Seahawks top Hawks before Endicott ends CCC run

NEWPORT, R.I. (May 13, 2022) -  The second-seeded Endicott College baseball team knocked off first-seeded Salve Regina University, 14-9, in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament play on Friday evening at Reynolds Field.

Endicott (35-7) will now host fifth-seeded Western New England in the CCC Championship round tomorrow. The Gulls enter tomorrow's CCC Championship Round undefeated (3-0), meaning the Golden Bears will need two wins on Saturday to claim the title. First pitch is scheduled for noon, while the "if necessary" game is slated for a tentative 3 p.m. start, should the situation arise.

Earlier, the Seahawks had staved off elimination by defeating the Hawks of Roger Williams University, 5-1, with some extra base hits that were cut in half. Matt D'Amato (Midland Park, N.J.) opened the first inning by drawing a free pass before stealing second and crossing the plate on a two-out single by Wil McCarthy (Pembroke, Mass.). It would not be the only big hit provided by the junior infielder in the contest.

In the Salve Regina fifth, Chris Veneruso (Westport, Conn.) got plunked to light the spark before going first-to-third on a Dustin Siqueira (Trumbull, Conn.) single. Roger Williams starter Dan Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) picked up a pair of Ks to get on the verge of escaping the jam, but out number three evaded him as he issued a free pass to Dylan Ketch (Clinton, Conn.) to extend the inning for McCarthy. Once again, the third baseman came through, this time by absolutely mashing one out to left-center, narrowly missing a home run, and instead settling for a booming ground-rule double. Tyler Petrosino (Beverly, Mass.) followed with a two-bagger of his own as the Salve Regina advantage ballooned to five.

The Hawks abandoned two men on with one out in the sixth before finally getting their lone run home in the seventh thanks to some two-out magic. Matt Falvey (Walpole, Mass.) notched a single then Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) drew ball-four to bring a swift end to Perachi's outing. Andrew Roman (Monson, Mass.) entered and Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) would get a run in by sneaking a single past the shortstop before a Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) walk loaded the bases to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of the red-hot Christopher Flynn (Randolph, N.J.). He battled but ultimately struck out as the one run would be all RWU would get.

CCC Pitcher of the Year Dominic Perachi (Washington Depot, Conn.) allowed just a single runner to score while fanning 11 to improve to 9-0.

WP (9-0): Dominic Perachi (Washington Depot, Conn.) — 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K
LP (4-3): Dan Massero (Fairfield, Conn.) — 4.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K

Salve Regina (28-11-2) and Roger Williams (27-11-2) leave their fates to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee until the Tournament Field is announced on Monday.

The Gulls may earn the conference's automatic bid with a victory on Saturday, but would also be in line for an at-large selection should the Golden Bears, who advanced with a 14-5 win at fourth-seeded Nichols, sweep two games for the title.

No. 20/21 Endicott took a 1-0 lead off Seahawk starter Patrick Maybach (Saunderstown, R.I.), who took the mound two days after his tournament-opening win against Suffolk, with a sacrifice fly from Caleb Shpur (East Canaan, Conn.). The Gulls, who stranded seven baserunners in the first three frames, scored four unearned runs in the fourth after an eight-minute fog delay and reliever Graham Jeffries (Chelmsford, Conn.) had gotten the second out on a fly to center. Jeffries had struck out the first batter he faced before the Gulls had two runners aboard on consecutive singles to right.

Nickolas Perkins (Nashua, N.H.), and Dylan Pacheco (Dartmouth, Mass.) highlighted the Gulls' offense with three RBI apiece.

Siqueira sent his second home run of the season to the same direction McCarthy's blast had been ruled a ground-rule double, but after similar discussion among the umpire crew, the Seahawks had their first two runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Justice Welch (Hackensack, N.J.) followed in the fifth with a bases-loaded ground-rule double before a balk and a single from Brandon Grover (Ashland, Mass.) produced two more runs.

Ketch, Salve Regina's all-time hit leader, led off the ninth with an opposite-field double. He came around on a pinch-hit, two-run double by Jared Beniers (Abington, Mass.). Grover added an RBI double for the final score.

WP (2-1): Will Fox (West Hartford, Conn.) — 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
LP (6-2): Patrick Maybach (Saunderstown, R.I.) — 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K