NEWPORT, R.I. – The third-seeded Roger Williams University Baseball team's 2022 season now lies in the hands of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, after they saw their Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament run halted at the hands of top-seeded Salve Regina University, 5-1 at Reynolds Field on Friday afternoon. The Hawks got some tough breaks, drawing the top-two seeds in back-to-back contests, but they came up short in this contest despite outhitting the Seahawks, 10-8.
 
With the loss, RWU falls to 27-11-2 on the season, and sees their CCC Tournament run end at the hands of their rivals from Newport for the third-straight year. Salve Regina, on the other hand, improves to 28-10-2 and survive to play another do-or-die contest against Endicott.
 
Dan Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) battled through 4.2 innings but was ultimately doomed by the bottom of the fifth. He finished by allowing five runs, all earned, on seven hits and four walks while striking out four to fall to 4-3. The hosts on the other hand, threw their ace and CCC Pitcher of the Year Dominic Perachi (Washington Depot, Conn.) and they hit him, collecting seven knocks in the contest, but he only walked one and allowed just a single runner to score while fanning 11 to improve to 9-0.
 
Hawk Highlights
Matt Falvey: 3-for-4, RS
Brandon Jenkins: 2-for-3, BB
Tyler Cedeno: 1-for-4, RBI
Jack Morin: 1-for-4
 
Dan Massaro: (L, 4-3), 4.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
Kyle Schaefer: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
 
For The Opponents
Wil McCarthy: 2-for-3, 2B, BB, 3 RBI, RS
Tyler Petrosino: 1-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI
Dustin Siqueira: 2-for-4, SB, RS
Matt D'Amato: 0-for-3, SB, BB, RS
 
Dominic Perachi: (W, 9-0), 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K
Andrew Roman: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
 
How It Happened
This contest would be all about the pitching for all 27 outs on both sides though Salve Regina would grab a first inning advantage against Dan Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.). Matt D'Amato (Midland Park, N.J.) opened the inning by drawing a free pass before stealing second and crossing the plate on a two-out single by Wil McCarthy (Pembroke, Mass.). It would not be the only big hit provided by the junior infielder in the contest, but for the time being, SRU held the 1-0 lead.
 
As Massaro settled in for a few frames, the Roger Williams offense could not gain traction against Dominic Perachi (Washington Depot, Conn.), squandering leadoff baserunners in first, second and fourth innings before the Seahawks got a huge breakthrough inning in the fifth, and like Thursday it would be a leadoff hit batsman that doomed RWU. Chris Veneruso (Westport, Conn.) got plunked to light the spark before going first-to-third on a Dustin Siquira (Trumbull, Conn.) single. Massaro picked up a pair of K's of D'Amato and Tyler Cannoe (Schenectady, N.Y.) to get on the verge of escaping the jam, but out number three evaded him as he issued a free pass to Dylan Ketch (Clinton, Conn.) to extend the inning for McCarthy. Once again, the third baseman came through, this time by absolutely mashing one out to left-center, narrowly missing a home run, and instead settling for a booming ground-rule double. Tyler Petrosino (Beverly, Mass.) followed with a two-bagger of his own as the Salve Regina advantage ballooned to five.
 
The Hawks abandoned two men on with one out in the sixth before finally getting their lone run home in the seventh thanks to some two-out magic. Matt Falvey (Walpole, Mass.) notched a single then Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) drew ball-four to bring a swift end to Perachi's outing. Andrew Roman (Monson, Mass.) entered and Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) would get a run in by sneaking a single past the shortstop before a Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) walk loaded the bases to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of the red-hot Christopher Flynn (Randolph, N.J.). He battled but ultimately struck out as the one run would be all RWU would get.
 
All the while, Kyle Schaefer (Madison, Conn.) did everything in his power to keep the guests in the game. After getting the elusive final out of the fifth, he allowed just two baserunners the rest of the way, but the offense just could not get the big hit they needed. Once again, Roger Williams loaded the bases to get the tying run to the plate with two down in the ninth. Once again it was Flynn who stepped into the box, but after a lengthy at-bat, he flew out to center to end RWU's conference tournament run.
 
What's Next
Roger Williams leaves their fate to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee as they will have a tense couple of days until the Tournament Field is announced on Monday.