BEVERLEY, MASS. – The No. 6 seeded Roger Williams baseball team is set to battle No. 3 seeded Hartford on Saturday afternoon in a CNE semi-final matchup at North Field on the campus of Endicott College.
 
Roger Williams finished their regular season 14-21 overall, and 6-10 in Conference of New England (CNE) play, securing the number six seed in the playoff tournament. It will be the Hawks fifth appearance in the conference playoff in five years under head coach Kevin Kelley.
 
The Hawks come into the semi-final matchup having defeated the No. 4 Golden Bears on Thursday afternoon, while Hartford comes in having handled Suffolk 10-0. Roger Williams and Hartford have met three times already this season, with Hartford controlling the season series 2-1. The biggest win of the series came on Wednesday morning when Hartford down the Hawks 5-2 in the first round of the CNE playoff tournament, forcing them into the loser's bracket immediately. .
 
Speaking on the previous regular season matchups, the two teams met on April 14^th as a part of a doubleheader series, which saw Roger Williams take game one 6-3, before falling to Hartford 4-1 in game two. Game one saw five homeruns leave the park, headlined by Will Florio's two solo shots alongside Dennis Folan's two run blast. In game two, it was Hartford's Ryan Knight who provided the fireworks with a grand slam homerun that would prove to be all of the offense they would need.
 
One pitcher to keep an eye on for the Hawks is sophomore Jonathan Quinn. Following an injury redshirt first year season, Quinn has made a splash on the mound for the Hawks, pitching to a 3.38 ERA, while striking out 50 opponents in 40 innings. He has held opponents to a .211 average on the season as well. Relief pitcher Ryan Camp is another name to look out for, as has anchored the Hawks this season. Camp has pitched to a 2.52 ERA, striking out 25 batters in 21.1 innings on the season.
 
Some hitters to keep an eye on for the Hawks would be Ty Cali, Owen Hibbard, and Will Florio. Recently moved into the leadoff spot, Cali leads the team in batting average, and is 6-6 on stolen base attempts. Hibbard, currently batting .290, leads the squad in stolen bases with nine, and currently holds an impressive 13:11 K:BB ratio. The last time the Hawks visited Fiondella Field, Florio popped two homeruns in route to a win, he also he leads the team with five homeruns.
 
For the opponent, Jake Santiago is a name to look out for, as he paces Hartford in batting average (.414), OPS (1.110), total bases (92), and doubles (11), and homeruns (7), while adding nine stolen bases on the basepaths. JJ Romatzick has also been a force at the plate, batting .388 with a .930 OPS, leading the squad in total hits and RBIs with 62 and 35 respectively. Romatzick also leads the team in stolen bases, tallying 11 on 15 attempts. Lastly, Jackson Ciccone comes in with a .333 mark, having racked up 81 total bases, good for second on the team. Ciccone holds an impressive 11:10 K:BB mark in over 150 plate appearances, good for best on the team.
 
The winner of the matchup will take on No. 2 Nichols who has played to a 14-16, 11-5 CNE record on the year. The Hawks closed out CNE play on Friday, May 2 against Curry, defeating the Colonels 25-3 and 12-2 in seven innings. They las played Sunday, May 4 hosting Wheaton in a 4-3 loss. In the playoff tournament, the Bison received a first-round bye and downed Hartford 11-3 to advance to the semi-final against the No. seeded Gulls, whom they fell to 13-3. The winner of Nichols vs. Roger Williams/Hartford will take on Endicott in the Conference of New England championship and will be forced to beat the Gulls twice.
 
The Bison rank third as a team in batting average, hitting .314 on the year through 39 games. They have also totaled 23 home runs, sitting fourth in the league. Ben Jerome ranks fourth in the league individually, hitting .390 while having 154 at bats, with 61 hits, seven going for extra bases, and 22 RBIs. Liam Flynn hit .368 on the year with 37 RBIS to lead the team and six home runs to lead the squad. 
 
On the bump, John Steed leads the way with a 3.84 ERA in 61.0 innings of work, while tossing a pair of complete games while Allen Hinckley has posted a 5.64 ERA in 13 appearances working 44.2 innings with 41 strikeouts.
 
Following the battle between the Hawks, the winner will take on No. 2 Nichols who will await the results.