NEWPORT, R.I. -- The top-seeded and nationally-ranked No. 10 Salve Regina University baseball team scored in the bottom of the ninth to edge fifth-seeded Wheaton College (Mass.), 3-2, this afternoon in the Second Round of the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship Tournament at Brother Reynolds Field in Newport, R.I.

The Lyons dip to 22-18 on the season, while the Seahawks, who are ranked in the most recent D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America national poll, win their 15th in a row and improve to 30-7. Wheaton will play third-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology in an elimination game on Saturday, May 10 at 9:30 a.m. in Newport, R.I., while Salve Regina takes on second-seeded United States Coast Guard Academy on the same day at 12:30 p.m.

The team combined for just 11 hits in the game, including five for the Lyons. Seahawks' pitching combined to strike out 17 batters. 

Wheaton took a 1-0 edge with a run in the top of the fourth, but Salve Regina answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 2-1 lead. The Lyons knotted the score with a run in the top of the ninth, before the Seahawks won it in the bottom of the inning.

Sophomore third baseman Casey Wensley (Raynham, Mass.) homered for Wheaton and senior first baseman Timmy Wagner (Hingham, Mass.) reached base twice with a walk and an RBI single. Senior second baseman Tommy Beauregard (Salem, Mass.) was 1-3 with a double and a run scored. Senior right-handed reliever Liam Goldthwaite (Braintree, Mass.) was charged with the loss to dip to 1-5 after giving up a run on two hits and a walk to go with a strikeout in an inning and two-thirds of work. Junior left reliever Evan Mello (New Bedford, Mass.) tossed two and two-thirds innings of hitless ball, while issuing three walks.

Senior second baseman Christian Homa (Fairfield, Conn.) drove in the winning run and was 1-4 with a walk for the Seahawks, while junior right fielder Shane Williams (Georgetown, Mass.) was 2-2 with a home run, a double, two runs batted in, a walk and a run scored. Graduate student center fielder Brandon Grover (Ashland, Mass.) contributed, going 1-2 with a pair of walks, a double and a run scored. Senior reliever Andrew Wertz (Dover, N.H.) picked up the win to improve to 2-0 after striking out three in the final frame and walking one in his only inning of work. Junior starting pitcher Kyle Carozza (Fairfield, Conn.) struck out nine and allowed two hits and a run in the first four innings of the game.

Wensley crushed a two-strike high fastball over the right field fence for his sixth home run of the year to lead off the top of the ninth and pull the Lyons even at 2-2.

Grover worked a two-out walk, stole second base and scored when Homa dumped a single into left field to give Salve Regina the 3-2 victory in the bottom of the ninth.

Wheaton got on the board in the top of the fourth to take a 1-0 edge. Beauregard smacked a lead-off double to right center field and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. Wagner delivered a run-scoring single through the left side to provide the Lyons with the first run of the afternoon.

The Seahawks answered right away with a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 2-1 edge. Graduate student third baseman Wil McCarthy (Pembroke, Mass.) kept the inning alive with a two-out single to left field and Williams gave Salve Regina the lead with a two-run long ball for his third homer of the season.