BRISTOL, R.I. - Featuring a potent offense combined with a dominating pitching staff, the Roger Williams University Baseball team rolls into the CCC Tournament searching for its third Commonwealth Coast Conference Title in program history. Their path begins with a rivalry matchup against Salve Regina University this weekend with a semifinals best-of-three series against the Seahawks in Newport.
 
"With everything going on, in terms of outside distractions, getting tested three times a week, no fans, parents, not expanding your germ pool, etc., the players have done a great job of not letting it become a distraction and have played great the entire year," Head Coach Kevin Kelley said. "They all have bought into staying disciplined and focused on what is in front of them and not worrying about the distractions."
 
The Hawks opened the season scorching hot, winning 15 of their first 20 games, and did not slow down as they finished the season 19-9 (11-5 CCC) to grab the second seed in Pod A for the CCC Tournament. RWU will tangle with Salve Regina who finished the season 10-3-1 (7-2-1 CCC) who, despite playing fewer games, snatched the top seed.
 
"It tells you that the hard work you put in during the season paid off," Kelley said about making the postseason. "However, just making the playoffs was not the goal.  Making the playoffs was the expectation; winning the CCC is the goal." 
 
For The Hawks
At the plate, Roger Williams showcased an intriguing blend of power and speed throughout the season by ranking second in the CCC with 84 extra-base hits while leading the conference with 60 stolen bases. This has led to great results as Roger Williams has scored 8.2 runs per game, the second most in the CCC.
 
The Roger Williams offense can do damage anywhere in the lineup. In the outfield, the Hawks showcase their top table-setters in graduate student Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) and senior Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) as well as senior Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) (.314/.424/.429). Gulino has been excellent this season, setting records and leading the CCC in walks (32) and steals (30), while also flashing some power with eight doubles and a home run. Cedeno meanwhile, has kept pace with a .319/.396/.440 triple-slash line with nine steals, and 29 RBIs. In the infield, the Hawks have senior first baseman Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) who started the spring hitting everything in sight and never stopped. As a result he has been the team's top run producer, leading the Hawks and ranking in the top five in the conference in hits (42, 1^st), batting average (.438, 2^nd), RBI (37, 2^nd), on-base (.517, 4^th), and doubles (8, t-4^th). Graduate student Danny Roth will likely lineup at second where he has slammed nine home runs, the second most in the conference and most on the Hawks. Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) (.382 OBP) and Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.) will likely man the left side of the infield. The catching and DH duties have primarily been rotated between two-way slugger Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) who features the third-best slugging percentage in the CCC (.759), George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) (.313 BA), and Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.) (.314/.429/.471).
 
"The offensive has been great this year," Kelley said. "It starts with the hard work they put in day in and day out at practice," Kelley said. "However, it is a veteran team with a ton of experience and that is part of it as well.  We can always be better at using the whole field, but it has been a point of emphasis this year and you can see the results are beginning to show."
 
The Roger Williams pitching staff owns a 4.91 ERA but does not lack star power. Graduate student southpaw, Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass.) is the headliner with a 2.73 ERA (5^th in CCC) and conference-leading 15.55 strikeouts per nine innings. He is 3-0 and the Hawks are 5-1 in games that he has started. 2019 CCC Pitcher of the Year Connor Hewlette (Deer Park, N.Y.)  may slide in behind him and, despite having an up-and-down campaign with a 7.71 ERA, he really showed what he can do against Western New England when he threw a complete game allowing just one earned run. The game three starter, if necessary, has yet to be announced.
 
The Hawks bullpen is loaded with reliable arms including lefty side-winder Ryan McGahern (Attleboro, Mass.) (1.13 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, .087 BAA), and fellow southpaw Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.) (.162 BAA, 1.10 WHIP), in addition to righties Kyle Schaefer (Madison, Conn.) (2.00 ERA), and Matt Vernacatola (Berlin, Conn.) (1.45 WHIP). Closer Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.) lurks at the backend of the bullpen where he has been virtually unhittable allowing a meager two unearned runs and striking out 27 in just 13 innings as he has locked down four saves.
 
"Pitching like the offensive has been great and again it has to do with this being a veteran team," Kelley said. "We have focused on attacking hitters and not getting into hitters counts.  Establishing the inner half of the plate with fastballs and working to keep hitters off balance with off-speed."
 
For The Seahawks
Salve Regina has a pesky offense that, despite lacking a lot of power (31 extra-base hits), ranks second in the CCC with a .311 team batting average. As a result, they average 5.64 runs per game. They also run the bases well with 17 steals on 20 attempts.
 
The top hitters for the Seahawks are Dylan Ketch (Clinton, Conn.) and Matt D'Amato (Midland Park, N.J.). Ketch led the team with a .414 batting average. D'Amato, meanwhile, bats leadoff for the team and has hit .375 with four doubles and a home run. The Hawks will also have to watch out for Jared Beniers (Abington, Mass.) (.394/.524/.485), Anthony Cieszko (Woodcliff Lake, N.J.) (.340, 4 doubles), and Sean O'Malley (Darien, Conn.) (.364, 3 doubles, 1 home run).
 
The Seahawks have been very effective on the mound with a team ERA of 3.27 and 10.55 K/9. Their projected game one starter will be Joe Escandon (Allenhurst, N.J.). Escandon owns an ERA of 1.84 on the season in three games with two starts. Graduate student Peyton Mayback (Saunderstown, N.J.) will likely throw in game two and has a 3.63 ERA with 10.90 K/9 this spring. If necessary, Dominic Perachi (Washington Depot, Conn.) (5.02 ERA, 13.81 K/9) would likely get the ball in game three though the Seahawks could also choose to go with graduate student Zach Dionne (Tolland, Conn.) (4.30 ERA).
 
The bullpen quartet of Zach Lopez (New Canaan, Conn.), Andrew Roman (Monson, Mass.), Ryan O'Donnell (Saunderstown, R.I.), and Michael Mathews (West Hartford, Conn.) are the top options out of the bullpen and have combined to not allow an earned run on the season. Roman leads the Seahawks with a pair of saves.
 
"I expect Salve to be disciplined, coached well, put pressure on us offensively and defensively and they are going to pitch well," Kelley said. "We are two evenly matched teams, whoever out executes the other team will be moving on to the next round."
 
Previous Meetings
Roger Williams and Salve Regina clashed with a chippy, closely contested four-game weekend series just a couple weeks ago. In a series that could not have been more evenly matched, the squads split the doubleheader in Newport on Saturday, and then did the same thing in Bristol on Sunday as the Hawks slightly outscored the Seahawks, 24-23 in the four contests.
 
How To Follow Along
Due to CCC COVID-19 protocols, there are still no spectators permitted at any conference athletic events. However, you can still follow along by watching the live stream video or live stats.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_0xOnyqg7fC7IGpRzHQBUQ/live
STATS: https://www.salveathletics.com/sports/bsb/2020-21/boxscores/20210502_f295.xml