NCAA DIII CWS: Cirella's squad spoils Cinderella's story

EASTLAKE, Ohio (Friday, May 31, 2024) - The Salve Regina University baseball team jumped out to a 7-0 advantage after five innings in its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III College World Series and held on for a 7-5 triumph over the sentimental favorite of the eight-team event, Birmingham Southern College, as the Panthers are competing on the field even though the school officially closed its doors at the end of the day. The No. 2 seeded Seahawks (39-8) match their program-record for wins in a season (set last year) and advance in the winner's side of Bracket B to face No. 3 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks at 8 p.m. tomorrow on Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio.

No. 7 seeded Birmingham-Southern (32-15) will look to keep its Cinderella story from ending when it plays No. 6 seeded Randolph-Macon College at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets fell, 11-3, to the Warhawks in the last matchup of the day.

Seahawk catcher Brady Smolinski (North Grafton, Mass.) launched a first-pitch three-run homer to left field in the bottom of the second for the game's first runs against Panther starter, Drake LaRoche (Fort Scott, Kan.). It marked his second career home run and comes one week after his first, a three-run shot to left that scored the winning run in a 9-8 final against Salisbury University in a Super Regional matchup.

"I saw that he (LaRoche) was going to the cutter a lot early," said Smolinski in postgame press conference response to a Pat Coleman (D3sports.com) question. "Threw four pitches for strikes, so I was just trying to see something over the white and do a job."

Salve Regina added single runs in the third and fourth frames with All-American Matt D'Amato (Midland Park, N.J.) sending one deep to right center that Eli Steadman (Birmingham, Ala.) tracked down at the wall while his center field counterpart Brandon Grover (Ashland, Mass.) tagged up to touch home plate. Michael Breen (Auburn, Mass.) delivered an RBI on a fielder's choice grounder that brought Hunter Yaworski (Brooklyn, Conn.) home for a 5-0 lead. After Grover doubled down the right field line to put runners at second and third, Steadman made a diving catch off an Evan O'Rourke (Arlington, Mass.) sinking line drive to prevent at least two more runs.

In the fifth, D'Amato singled to center field with one out and Seahawk head coach Eric Cirella '05 signaled for the hit-and-run with Tyler Cannoe (Schenectady, N.Y.) at the plate. Cannoe crushed a LaRoche pitch into the grassy berm beyond the left field wall for a 7-0 score.

"As I was rounding third, I thanked him (Cirella) for putting on the hit-and-run because I just swung at it," said Cannoe. "There was no thinking, I just had to protect Matt, I just had to hit the ball and it just happened to go out."

Cinderella didn't wait for midnight before touching home plate. The Panthers scored their first run after two were out in the sixth inning against Seahawk starter Brayden Clark (Beverly, Mass.). Jackson Webster was hit by a 1-2 pitch and came around after successive singles up the middle by Ian Hancock and Charlie Banks.

Ty Truett and Shane Nelson knocked out Clark with back-to-back singles to start the seventh. With the bases loaded, Eli Steadman had an RBI groundout. Andrew Dutton later plated two runs on a single through the right side and he scored when Hancock singled through the left side. Jason Arrigo (Basking Ridge, N.J.) struck out Banks to end the inning.

Kyle Carozza (Fairfield, Conn.) inherited a bases-loaded situation with two outs in the eighth and the right hander used one pitch to induce a grounder up the middle that Christian Homa (Fairfield, Conn.) snagged on the left side of the second base bag and dove back to get the inning-ending force out without a run scoring. Carozza escaped a ninth-inning jam after a bloop single to right and a walk put Panthers on first and second. Carozza recorded three straight strike outs to notch his program-record 11th save of the season.

"It's a different way every game," explains Cirella. "I think we have a dynamic offense where we can steal some bags and do some little things, but if guys make some mistakes these are grown men ... they can hit the ball over the fence as well."

Cirella was especially effusive for his closer. "He (Carozza) should be all-region, All-American. He's just very composed in that situation."

Carozza commented: "With everything going on you try not to think about it. The only thing going through my head was my mother back home freaking out because everytime she texts me after a game is if I could just make it easier for her."

Cannoe added that the final three weeks "have been like a fairytale. Everything feels surreal. I feel like a lot of us have come closer together the last few weeks."

Who will the glass slipper fit?

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Salve Regina 7, Birmingham-Southern 5
Records: Salve Regina (39-8), Birmingham-Southern (32-15)
All-Time Series: Salve Regina and Birmingham Southern have met once before, with the Panthers finishing the 2022 Lynchburg (Va.) Regional undefeated following a 10-2 win over the Seahawks. Salve Regina had advanced to its first-ever appearance in the regional championship round.

SUMMARY

• B2 - Brady Smolinski swung at the first pitch he saw and homered to left field with two outs and two on. Matt D'Amato had led off the inning with his first of two hits. Wil McCarthy beat out a fielder's choice grounder to avoid a twin killing. | Seahawks 3, Panthers 0
• B3 - Matt D'Amato's sacrifice fly was tracked down at the wall in right center field by Eli Steadman while Brandon Grover tagged up from third to score a 4-0 lead. | Seahawks 4, Panthers 0
• B4 - Michael Breen beat out a fielder's choice grounder to avoid a twin killing while Hunter Yaworski scored. | Seahawks 5, Panthers 0
• B5 - Tyler Cannoe crushed a two-run homer to left field with Matt D'Amato aboard. | Seahawks 7, Panthers 0
• T6 - The Panthers produced some two-out magic as Jackson Webster reached on a hit by pitch. Ian Hancock and Charlie Banks had back-to-back singles up the middle to put Birmingham-Southern on the board. | Seahawks 7, Panthers 1
• T7 - Ty Truett and Shane Nelson knocked out starter Brayden Clark with successive singles to lead off the seventh. A walk loaded the bases before Steadman's grounder was grabbed by Christian Homa for a putout at first while a run scored. Andrew Dutton followed with a two-run single through the right side. Jason Arrigo got Webster on a swinging strike three for the second out but Hancock made it a two-run margin when his single through the left side scored Dutton. Arrigo got the K for the final out of the inning with the batter representing the tying run. | Seahawks 7, Panthers 5

NOTEWORTHY

• Tyler Cannoe, who had one home run on the season after the first 43 games, has now homered in four of the last four NCAA postseason contests.
• Seahawk starter Brayden Clark went six-plus innings for the win to improve to 5-1 on the year.
• Kyle Carozza added to his school-record season save total (11).
• Cannoe and Ian Hancock both had three hits for their respective teams.

NEXT UP
Salve Regina will be "home" once again while it plays Wisconsin-Whitewater (for the first-time ever) as the Seahawks and Warhawks meet in a winner's game at 8 p.m. on Saturday at Classic Auto Group Park.