Dominic Perachi dominates nationally-ranked Huskies in early innings; Seahawks survive, 5-4

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HARTFORD, Conn. (Fri., May 28, 2021) - Salve Regina University sophomore lefty Dominic Perachi (Washington Depot, Conn.) retired the first nine batters he faced against nationally-ranked University of Southern Maine (#11 - https://d3baseball.com/top25/2021/2021Top25-week-14) while fellow lefties Brandon Grover (Ashland, Mass.) and Sean O'Malley (Darien, Conn.) took care of things at the plate with three hits and two runs batted in apiece. Fourth-seeded Seahawks defeated top-seeded Huskies in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships, 5-4, to stave off elimination in the Hartford Regional hosted by Trinity College at Murren Family Field in DiBenedetto Stadium. Both teams are now 1-1 heading into Saturday's competition.

Perachi (3-1) struck out six Huskies in six innings including two apiece in the fifth and sixth frames.

With the win, fourth-seeded Salve Regina plays sixth-seeded Johnson & Wales University at 2:30 p.m. in an elimination game for both teams. They'll be preceded by Southern Maine playing its elimination game against second-seeded Oswego State University with an 11 a.m. scheduled first pitch. The Lakers lost, 6-5, to third-seeded Wheaton College who remains the only unbeaten team in the regional. The winner of the Huskies-Lakers contest will return to DiBenedetto Stadium for the final game on Saturday to play the Lyons.

Salve Regina improves to 15-6-1 on the season with its victory today, and 2-3 all-time versus Southern Maine. With Perachi blanking the Huskies through six innings, his offensive mates provided support with basehits in each of the first three frames. The Huskies (32-10) escaped trouble in the first and second by turning double plays behind starter Gage Feeney (Cutler, Maine).

With two outs in the bottom of the third, Salve Regina avoided the twin-killings with four successive singles by Jared Beniers (Abington, Mass.), Dylan Ketch (Clinton, Conn.), Grover, and O'Malley. Beniers and Ketch both went opposite field while Grover and O'Malley pulled their run-scoring singles to right field.

Senior lefty reliever Gavin Arsenault (Dixfield, Maine) went to the mound in the bottom of the fourth and got a quick three up and three down with two grounders to third baseman Andrew Hillier (Bangor, Maine) and a swinging strike three. Lifted by a caught stealing to end the top of the fifth, the Seahawks scored three more runs in the bottom of the inning as Matt D'Amato (Midland Park, N.J.) led off with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Beniers. Ketch was hit by a pitch before Grover's single put runners at the corners and plated D'Amato for a 3-0 lead.

A wild pitch brought Ketch home and Grover to second before he touched the plate on O'Malley's double down the right field line for a 5-0 score. O'Malley was the second out of the inning on Wil McCarthy's (Pembroke, Mass.) fielder's choice grounder back to Arsenault on the mound. Senior outfielder Zach Barlok (Cheshire, Conn.) added a single to center, but he and McCarthy ended up stranded at first and second to finish the fifth.

Tom Vesosky (Colchester, Vt.) got his second hit of the day, and just the second hit off Perachi, when he tripled to the right-center gap to lead off the top of the seventh. Cam Seymour (Saco, Maine) put the first Huskie run on the board when he pulled a Perachi pitch into right field. Hillier followed with a single through the left side and Perachi was lifted for righty reliever Andrew Roman (Monson, Mass.).

The Huskies scored their second run on a fielder's choice grounder and a throwing error. Sam Troiano (South Portland, Maine) singled through the left side to score Hillier, and the gap was closed to one run (5-4) when Dylan Hapworh (Winslow, Maine) grounded out to second baseman Dustin Siqueira (Trumbull, Conn.) to allow Andrew Olszak (Danvers, Mass.) to cross the plate. Roman got the final out of the inning on a grounder to McCarthy at third base and a scoop at first by O'Malley.

Bryce Afthim (Windham, Maine) pitched a perfect seventh and eighth innings for Southern Maine. Roman retired the final eight batters he faced for his third save of the season, and biggest of his career.

D'Amato and Beniers both collected two hits apiece at the top of the order for the Seahawks.