Seahawks begin TCCC playoffs at Wentworth

NEWPORT, R.I. - The Salve Regina University baseball team begins its road back to The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) Championship game with a 3 p.m. contest against Wentworth Tuesday afternoon. The game will be played at Parsons Field on the campus of Northeastern University.

The Leopards and Seahawks will be meeting for the 49th time in program history and the third time in six days. Salve Regina leads the series 32-16, but the two schools have split the last 10 games. Salve Regina also owns the longest winning streak in the series at 13 (1999-2006). Last week, the Leopards roughed up the Seahawks to the tune of a 13-6 loss on Thursday before the Seahawks answered with a 6-3 win on Saturday.

The No. 5 seed Seahawks finished the 2011 regular season with a 20-19 record and a 14-8 mark in conference play. Head coach Steve Cirella's squad won seven of its final 11 games to reach the 20-win plateau for the 11th time in his 12 seasons as head coach. Graduate student Tom Glynn (Woodbridge, Conn.) leads the Seahawks with a .398 average and sits second in hits (49), doubles (10), and RBI (24) to senior Alex Melcher (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.). The reigning First Team All-TCCC shortstop is hitting .371 and leads the team in hits (53), runs (34), doubles (12), triples (three), RBI (37), and stolen bases. Senior Charles Matarazzo (Montville, N.Y.) will get the start on the hill for Salve Regina following a regular season which saw him post a 6-0 record with a 4.46 earned run average (ERA) in seven starts. In 42.1 innings of work, Matarazzo allowed 46 hits and 26 runs (21 earned) with 16 walks and 36 strikeouts.

The Leopards wrapped up their regular season 22-13 overall and a 14-8 mark in conference play. Because WIT and SRU split the season series at one win apiece, the Leopards gained the No. 4 seed by virtue of a win over No. 1 seed Western New England earlier this season. Junior Connor Flisnik (Marcy, N.Y.) leads the Leopards with a .321 average and 34 hits, and is tied with senior Jake McManus (Hopkinton, N.H.) and senior Doug Papuga (Branford, Conn.) for the team lead with 17 RBI. Papuga will get the start for the Leopards this afternoon and looks to improve upon his 4-2 record. In 42.1 innings of work, he's surrendered 35 hits and 26 runs (22 earned) while walking 30 and striking out 47. Papuga owns an ERA of 4.68.

In other conference playoff games on Tuesday, No. 1 Western New England (32-8, 20-2 TCCC) hosts No. 8 Colby-Sawyer (14-20, 8-14 TCCC), No. 2 Roger Williams (21-19, 15-7 TCCC) entertains No. 7 Curry (17-22, 9-13 TCCC), and No. 3 Endicott (27-13, 15-7 TCCC) welcomes No. 6 Anna Maria (22-17, 13-9 TCCC). All three games will be played at 3 p.m.