SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (May 10, 2016) - The top-seeded Western New England University baseball team had its run in the 2016 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament ended this afternoon with a 9-1 loss to fourth-seeded Salve Regina University at Trelease Park.
 
Salve Regina (24-16-1) advances to tomorrow's championship round at Endicott and needs two victories to claim the CCC title, while the Gulls just need to win once to earn the conference crown. Western New England (30-11) will find out its NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday night when the Division III selection show airs on NCAA.com. The Golden Bears were ranked third in the last NCAA New England Regional Rankings, which were released on May 5.
 
Salve Regina jumped out to a quick lead this afternoon and didn't look back, scoring three runs on four hits in the first inning. Freshmen Zack Smith (New Canaan, Conn.), Colton Eremian (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Brody Santilli (Lincoln, R.I.) all recorded RBI singles in the frame as the Seahawks staked sophomore pitcher Jimmy Fitzgerald (Canton, Mass.) to an early advantage.
 
The visitors put three more runs on the board in the third, two of which were driven in on sophomore John Militano's (Miller Place, N.Y.) double to right field, extending their lead to 6-0.
 
Western New England got one run back in the bottom half of the inning, as the first three batters reached safely and freshman Alex Loparco (Riverside, Conn.) drew a one-out, bases loaded walk, but the Golden Bears were unable to cut into their deficit further.
 
Salve Regina wrapped up the scoring with three more runs in the top of the eighth, plating the last two on senior Ryan Kelly's (Waldwick, N.Y.) double to right field.
 
Fitzgerald earned the win (3-1) after striking out four batters and allowing one run on two hits over his six innings on the mound.
 
Western New England senior righthander David Cherry (Southbury, Conn.) drops to 7-2 with the loss after surrendering six runs (five earned) on eight hits with three strikeouts and three walks over six frames of work.
 
Loparco, senior Doug Milne (Nesconset, N.Y.), junior Daniel Morin (Salem, N.H.) and freshman Erik Lacaire (Worcester, Mass.) had one hit each for the Golden Bears.