The Salve Regina University baseball team defeats Birmingham Southern College in the NCAA Division III College World Series

EASTLAKE, Ohio (Friday, May 31, 2024) – The Salve Regina University baseball team jumped out to a 7-0 lead after five innings in its first appearance in the NCAA Division III College World Series and held on for a 7-5 triumph over the eight-team sentimental favorite. event, Birmingham Southern College, as the Panthers compete on the field even though the school officially closed its doors at the end of the day. Seahawks no. 2 (39-8) ties its single-season wins record (set last year) and advances to the winner’s side of Bracket B to face the No. 3 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio.

Birmingham-Southern (32-15), seeded No. 7 (32-15) will look to keep its Cinderella story from ending when it plays No. 6 seed Randolph-Macon College on Saturday at 4:45 p.m. The Yellow Jackets fell to the Warhawks, 9-3 in the last match of the day.

Seahawk catcher Brady Smolinski (North Grafton, Mass.) launched a three-run first-pitch homer to left field in the bottom of the second for the game’s first runs against Panther starter Drake LaRoche (Fort Scott, Kan.). It hit his second career home run and comes a week after his first, a three-run shot to left that scored the game-winning run in a 9-8 final against Salisbury University in a Super Regional.

“I saw him (LaRoche) go to the cutter very early,” Smolinski said in his postgame press conference response to a question per Pat Coleman (D3sports.com). “I threw four pitches for strikes, so I just tried to see something over the white and do a job.”

Salve Regina added single runs in the third and fourth frames off the All-American Matt D’Amato (Midland Park, NJ) sent one deep to right-center that Eli Steadman (Birmingham, Ala.) tracked to the wall as his counterpart in center field Brandon Grover (Ashland, Mass.) tagged out to hit home plate. Michael Breen (Auburn, Mass.) had an RBI on a fielder’s choice Hunter Yaworski (Brooklyn, Connecticut) at home for a 5-0 lead. After Grover doubled down the right field line to put runners on second and third, Steadman was able to reach a Evan O’Rourke (Arlington, Mass.) diving line drive to prevent at least two more runs.

In the fifth, D’Amato singled to center field with one out and the Seahawk head coach Eric Cirella ’05 reported for hitting with Tyler Cannoe (Schenectady, NY) at the plate. Cannoe smashed a LaRoche pitch into the grass berm beyond the left field wall for a 7-0 score.

“As I was going to third, I thanked (Cirella) for making the hit and run because I just went to her,” Cannoe said. “There was no thinking, I just had to protect Matt, I just had to hit the ball and it just happened to go out.”

Cinderella did not wait for midnight before touching the house. The Panthers scored the first run after two outs in the sixth inning against the Seahawk starter Brayden Clark (Beverly, Mass.). Jackson Webster was hit by a 1-2 pitch and came after back-to-back singles up the middle by Ian Hancock and Charlie Banks.

Ty Truett and Shane Nelson knocked off Clark with back-to-back singles to start the seventh. With the bases loaded, Eli Steadman had an RBI groundout. Andrew Dutton later scored two runs on a single through the right side and scored when Hancock singled through the left side. Jason Arrigo (Basking Ridge, NJ) struck out Banks to end the inning.

Kyle Carozza (Fairfield, Conn.) inherited a bases-loaded situation with two outs in the eighth, and the right-hander used a pitch to induce a grounder up the middle that Christian Homa (Fairfield, Conn.) clung to the left side of the second base bag and dove back to get the inning-ending force out without scoring a run. Carozza escaped a ninth-inning jam on a bloop single to right and a walk put the Panthers on first and second. Carozza recorded three consecutive shutouts to pick up his 11th save of the season.

“It’s a different mode every game,” explains Cirella. “I think we have a dynamic offense where we can steal some bags and do some little things, but if guys make mistakes, those are grown men … they can hit the ball over the fence, too.”

Cirella was especially effusive to his close. “He (Carozza) should be all-region, All-American. He’s just very calm in this situation.”

Carozza commented: “With everything that’s going on, you try not to think about it. The only thing that went through my mind was that my mom at home was freaking out because every time she texts me after a game is if I could make it easier for her.”

Cannoe added that the past three weeks “have been like a fairy tale. Everything seems surreal. I feel like a lot of us have gotten closer over the last few weeks.”

Who will the glass slipper suit?

INSIDE THE MATCH
Final: Salve Regina 7, Birmingham-Southern 5
records: Salve Regina (38-8), Birmingham-Southern (32-15)
All time series: Salve Regina and Birmingham Southern have met once before, with the Panthers finishing the 2022 Lynchburg (Va.) Regional undefeated after a 10-2 win over the Seahawks. Salve Regina was advancing to its first appearance in the regional championship round.

SUMMARY

• B2 – Brady Smolinski swung at the first pitch he saw and cleared it into left field with two outs and two on. Matt D’Amato led off the inning with his first of two hits. Wil McCarthy beat out a fielder’s choice to avoid a Twins kill. | Seahawks 3, Panthers 0
• B3 – Matt D’Amato’s sacrifice fly was followed to the right-center field wall by Eli Steadman as Brandon Grover singled from third to score a 4-0 lead. | Seahawks 4, Panthers 0
• B4 – Michael Breen beat out a fielder’s choice to avoid a twin kill as Hunter Yaworski scored. | Seahawks 5, Panthers 0
• B5 – Tyler Cannoe crushed a two-run homer to left field with Matt D’Amato aboard. | Seahawks 7, Panthers 0
• T6 – The Panthers produced two-out magic when Jackson Webster reached on a groundout. Ian Hancock and Charlie Banks had back-to-back singles up the middle to put Birmingham-Southern on the board. | Seahawks 7, Panthers 1
• T7 – Ty Truett and Shane Nelson knocked off starter Brayden Clark with back-to-back singles to lead off the seventh. A walk loaded the bases before Steadman’s groundout was picked off by Christian Homa for a groundout at first as a run scored. Andrew Dutton followed with a two-run single through the right side. Jason Arrigo brought Webster in on a triple for the second out, but Hancock made it a two-run margin when his single through the left side scored Dutton. Arrigo got the K for the final out of the inning, the batter representing the tying run. | Seahawks 7, Panthers 5

NOTEWORTHY

• Tyler Cannoe, who had a season home run after the first 43 games, has now hit a home run in four of his last four NCAA postseason contests.
• Seahawk starter Brayden Clark went more than six innings for the win to improve to 5-1 on the year.
• Kyle Carozza added a save total to his season school record (11).
• Cannoe and Ian Hancock both had three hits for their respective teams.

NEXT
Salve Regina will be “home” again as they play Wisconsin-Whitewater (for the first time) while the Seahawks and Warhawks meet in a winner-take-all game Saturday at 8:00 PM at Classic Auto Group Park.

Source: Salve Regina University Athletics