Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--The Western New England University baseball team defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology, 17-1, and Salve Regina University, 10-7, on Saturday to advance to tomorrow's Commonwealth Coast Conference championship game, starting at 3 p.m. at Pat Ricci Field at Trelease Park.

The top-seeded Golden Bears (31-10 overall) will face the winner of No. 2 Endicott College versus No. 3 Salve Regina in Game 10 at noon Sunday.

In the three-run comeback win against the Seahawks (29-11), the Golden Bears scored five times in the bottom of the seventh inning to erase a 7-5 deficit. Senior Taylor Perun had the key hit with a bases-clearing triple to right-center field for the go-ahead runs. Freshman catcher Tim Budd added an insurance tally on a RBI-groundout to shortstop. Senior Kyle McKelvey started the rally with a RBI-single to right field.

"I'm proud of our team for showing some grit this afternoon. We could have packed it in when we went down in the middle of the game," Western New England coach Matt LaBranche said. "Obviously, Taylor's hit was huge. I'm real happy for him. He's been fighting himself a lot this year."

Western New England had raced to a 4-0 lead after the very first inning on a two-run double to left-center by sophomore Steve Buckley, RBI-single off the bat of junior Steve Ambrosino and sacrifice fly by T.J. Wyrebek.

The Seahawks, however, scored three runs in the third and took the lead, 6-4, with three more in the top of the fourth stanza.

The Golden Bears got a run back in the bottom-half to close within 6-5. Senior co-captain Tim Clark surprised the SRU defense by laying down a two-out, bunt-single down the third base line with the bases loaded that plated Ambrosino, who had led off with a single up the middle.

Sophomore reliever Nick Salerno (4-1) earned the win by throwing the last 4-2/3 innings without allowing an earned run (1R). He had four strikeouts while walking one and allowing two hits.

"Nick continues to emerge as a front-line guy for us. He was immense," stated LaBranche.

Western New England pounded out a season-high 19 hits against the Leopards, tying a team-best 17 runs while also establishing a season high with a 16-run scoring margin. The Golden Bears three runs in the first and six more in the next frame to break the game wide open.

"We did what we had to do, jumping on a team that was down on their pitching to put up some runs early," LaBranche said. "That's important in a losers' bracket game because you don't want to let a team hang around and give them a chance to bite you late."

Buckley led the rout with a 3-for-6, four-run performance at the plate, including his team-leading third home run of the spring and three runs batted in.

Sophomore pitcher Trevor Breton struck out a career-high 15 batters in eight innings of work to improve to 5-1. He scattered five singles, walked two and gave up one earned run.

"Trevor's ability to give us eight strong innings gave us a chance to keep some guys rested for (today's) second game, LaBranche said."