Four Seahawks earn All-CCC honors

NEWPORT, R.I. – The Salve Regina University baseball team had four players receive All-Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) honors, as announced by commissioner Gregg Kaye on Wednesday morning. Senior Nicholas Politelli (Warwick, R.I.) was selected as the CCC Baseball Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year while also earning Honorable Mention recognition. Sophomore catcher Dominic Di Sano (Central Falls, R.I.) was named to the All-CCC First Team, freshman Joe Haley (North Kingstown, R.I.) earned a nod to the All-CCC Second Team, and senior Matt Capone (East Providence, R.I.) joined Politelli on the Honorable Mention squad.

Politelli, who is an English major, currently sports an impressive 3.76 grade point average, which is the highest among all current senior male scholar-athletes at Salve Regina. The senior infielder has earned an Academic All-America nomination and has been a member of the All-CCC Academic Team each year he has been eligible. In addition to his accomplishments in the classroom, Politelli also performed well on the field, compiling a .336 batting average with 21 runs scored, while finishing second on the team with 40 hits.

Di Sano was the top catcher in the league this year, posting an impressive OPS of 1.053. He led the entire conference with a .600 slugging percentage while also leading the Seahawks in doubles (11), home runs (2), and on base percentage (.453). During a two-day stretch in late April, Di Sano went 7-for-11 with seven runs scored, and five runs batted in over three games, including a 3-for-3 performance versus Rhode Island College in which he accounted for six runs.

Haley was among the best freshmen in the conference this season, leading the Seahawks in both triples (3) and walks (16), while also ranking among the top three on the team in hits (37), doubles (8), runs batted in (18), batting average (.343), and slugging percentage (.472). He was selected as the CCC Rookie of the Week twice, including the final week of the regular season in which he batted .500 with a .929 slugging percentage and eight runs batted in.

As the team captain, Capone gave the Seahawks a strong bat in the middle of their lineup. He finished the regular season batting .314 with a .406 on base percentage, while ranking among the top three on the club in hits (37) and doubles (8). He collected at least one hit during 25 of the 34 games in which he played, including 10 multi-hit performances.

Led by these four players, the Seahawks earned the #6 seed in the CCC Baseball Championship tournament. The team will travel to face #1 Western New England at 3 p.m. during the opening round of the tournament on Thursday.