Seahawks swept on senior day

NEWPORT, R.I. – The Salve Regina baseball team fell to Commonwealth Coast Conference foe, Endicott, in its senior day doubleheader at historic Cardines Field, Saturday afternoon. The Gulls defeated the Seahawks 15-2 in the first game before taking the nightcap, 23-3.

The Gulls (26-11, 15-1 CCC) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning of the opening game and never looked back. Endicott plated three runs  before recording an out in the opening frame and used three hits and two errors to take the five-run lead.

Endicott added to its lead as freshman Matthew Paola (Middlebury, Conn.) went deep for the first time in the game to lead off the third. Classmate Cody Hall (Rutland, Mass.) cleared the left field fence to lead off the fourth to push the Endicott lead to 7-0. Graduate student Colin Sitarz (West Hartford, Conn.) connected on the first pitch he faced with two on to give the Gulls a 9-0 lead after the top of the fourth.

Salve Regina finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth as freshman Ryan Kelly (Basking Ridge, N.J.) reached on a fielder's choice to bring home sophomore Tim Harris (Southbury, Conn.). Junior Tyler Colby (Easton, Conn.) plated the Seahawks second run of the game with an RBI-single to left to score Kelly.

Endicott plated five more runs in the top of the seventh on five hits, all doubles, to take the first game 15-2.

Junior Vincent Roth (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) took the loss in the first game while senior Tyler Hitchcock (Abington, Mass.).

Salve Regina took its first lead of the afternoon, 2-1, in the bottom of the first inning on a pair of hits. Freshman Ryan Sweenor (South Kingston, R.I.) hit an infield single to bring home sophomore Joe Haley (North Kingston, R.I.) and tie the game at one. Sophomore Sean Becker (Richmond, Va.) walked with the bases loaded to bring home Haley and give Salve Regina a 2-1 lead.

The lead was quickly erased in the top of the second as the Endicott plated a pair of runs on two hits. Endicott added three more in the third and four in the fourth before exploding for 13 runs in the top of the fifth. The Gulls scored six runs before they got an out in the inning. Endicott sent 18 men to the plate in the inning.

Salve Regina scored its final run of the game on a sacrifice fly from pinch hitter junior Anthony Trammell (Londonberry, N.H.) to score freshman Mike Johnston (Bedford Hills, N.Y.).

 Senior Daniel Kehew (Portsmouth, R.I.) took the loss on the mound for Salve Regina as graduate student Mike Nich (Orange, Conn.) got the win for Endicott.

Endicott returns to North Field to celebrate Senior Day on Sunday afternoon with a single game against UMass Boston, starting at 12:00 pm.

The Seahawks will play their final regular season game of the year at home on Monday, a 3:30 pm first pitch against non-conference foe Framingham State.