Seahawks top Wildcats away, 8-6

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Johnson & Wales University baseball squad dropped an 8-6 decision against intra-state rival Salve Regina in a non-conference contest at Pierce Field on Monday afternoon.

Salve Regina jumped out to the 1-0 lead in the top of the first when freshman Ryan Kelly (Waldwick, N.J.) led off with a walk and scored on a sacrifice fly.  The visiting Seahawks added two more in the top of the second, including an RBI single by Kelly for the 3-0 advantage.  JWU answered in the bottom of the second when they scored three of their own, all of them unearned, to knot the game at 3-3.  Sophomore Kory Ferullo (Rochester, N.H.) had an RBI single in the frame for the Wildcats.  Salve Regina responded quickly, however and went ahead 4-3 on an RBI single by sophomore Matt Conroy (Philadelphia, Pa.).  The Seahawks added a single run in the fourth and a sacrifice fly by sophomore Joe Haley (North Kingstown, R.I.) made the score 6-3 in the top of the seventh.

JWU cut the lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh after an RBI single by junior Alex Pezzuto (Hastings, N.Y.).  Salve Regina added an insurance run in the eight and another in the top of the ninth to extend the lead to 8-4.  In the bottom of the ninth, JWU rallied when Ferullo walked and came around to score on a wild pitch.  Pezzuto singled and came around to score on an RBI single to right by fellow junior Jake Dickerson (Garnet Valley, Pa.) to make the score 8-6.  The Wildcats had runners on second and third, but couldn't push the runs across as junior Kevin Lambert (Fairfield, Conn.) notched his fifth save of the season by inducing a fly ball to center field to end the game.

Ferullo went 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI for JWU while junior Rob Clark (Cranston, R.I.) suffered the loss for the Wildcats, giving up five runs on five hits in four innings of work.  Kelly went 2-for-2 with three runs and two RBI in the victory for Salve Regina while senior Daniel Kehew (Portsmouth, R.I.) picked up the win for the Seahawks, allowing four runs on nine hits with four strikeouts in seven innings.

With the loss JWU falls to 22-9 on the season while Salve Regina improves to 21-7 for the year.