NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) baseball team was shut down by visiting No. 7 Salve Regina University in a 7-0 defeat this afternoon in the nightcap of a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference twinbill at Sidell Stadium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 15-8 overall and 9-3 in league play, while the Seahawks, who are ranked in the most recent D3baseball.com poll, have won five of their last six games and improve to 24-5 and 10-2.
The visitors did all of their damage in two innings with a pair of runs in the first and five in the seventh.
Junior first baseman Timmy Wagner (Hingham, Mass.) paced the Wheaton offense, going 2-4 with a double, while junior designated hitter Kevin Matos (Lawrence, Mass.), sophomore second baseman Marcus Rodrigues (Lincoln, R.I.) and senior center fielder AJ Guindon (Coventry, R.I.) each collected a pair of hits for the Lyons. First year left-handed starting pitcher Aiden Cardoza (Dartmouth, Mass.) was saddled with the loss, giving up six runs on eight hits and three walks to go with three strikeouts in six innings to fall to 2-3.
Sophomore left fielder Evan O'Rourke (Arlington, Mass.) hit a home run and knocked in two runs to back an outstanding pitching effort the Salve Regina pitching staff. Three pitchers combined to scatter 10 hits to record the shutout, led by sophomore starting hurler Joe DeRienzo (Trumbull, Conn.), who threw five innings of six-hit ball and did not allow a walk, while striking out three batters to improve to 4-0 on the season. Junior righty reliever Jason Arrigo (Basking Ridge, N.J.) tossed three frames and fanned four batters, while yielding three hits. Graduate student southpaw Tommy DelVecchio (Scotch Plains, N.J.) closed out the ninth, giving up a hit and recording a strikeout.
All nine starters registered a hit in the Seahawk lineup. O'Rourke was 2-3 with a walk and a run scored and senior center fielder Brandon Grover (Ashland, Mass.) was 2-5 with a homer, two runs scored and an RBI from the lead-off spot. Graduate student designated hitter Hunter Yaworski (Brooklyn, Conn.) contributed with a 2-4 effort at the plate and drove in a run and scored a run.
Salve Regina wasted no time in getting on the board in the top of the first inning. The first two batters in the lineup hit long balls to give the Seahawks a 2-0 lead. Grover pulled an 0-2 pitch over the right field fence to lead off the game, before O'Rourke went deep over the left field fence to follow Grover.
Following those long drives, Cardoza settled down for Wheaton, throwing zeroes over the next six innings. The southpaw pitched into the seventh, but the first three Salve Regina hitters of the inning all reached with junior catcher Brady Smolinski (North Grafton, Mass.) working a lead-off walk, before senior shortstop Michael Breen (Auburn, Mass.) singled to right field and Grover reached on a bunt single. O'Rourke laced a run-scoring single through the left side to plate Smolinski with the third run and knock Cardoza out of the game with the bases loaded and no outs. Yaworski followed with an RBI infield single and junior second baseman Fairfield, Conn.) increased the Seahawks' margin to 6-0 with a two-run single down the left field line. Graduate student first baseman Tyler Cannoe (Schenectady, N.Y.) brought home the final run of the game with a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 7-0.
The Lyons' best chance to crack the scoring column came in the bottom of the fourth. Matos and Wagner opened the frame with back-to-back singles, before first year third baseman Casey Wensley (Raynham, Mass.) put down a sacrifice bunt to push both runners into scoring position. DeRienzo retired the next two batters for the Seahawks to eliminate the threat.
Wheaton returns to action on Tuesday, April 23 when it travels to Babson Park, Mass. to play Babson College at 3:30 p.m., while Salve Regina hosts Johnson & Wales University at 3:30 p.m. on the same day.
