SANFORD, Fla. -- Not everything is bigger in Texas, as the Salve Regina Seahawks began their five-game Florida tournament with a 7-3 win over the UT-Dallas Comets on Saturday at Sanford Memorial Stadium.

The Seahawks could not have asked for a better start, and they depended on some grizzled veterans throughout their first game. Matt D'Amato (Midland Park, N.J.) led the Seahawks off with a bloop single into right field, and Tyler Cannoe (Schenectady, N.Y.) took the reins: a two-run no-doubter over the left field wall gave the Seahawks a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.

A few innings later, a Cannoe RBI-single would further extend the Seahawks lead before the Comets would tie it up in a couple innings with a home run in the sixth. In a 3-3 seventh inning, the Seahawks got scrappy to get a lead. Cannoe walked on a wild pitch ball-four that got Dustin Sequeira (Trumbull, Conn.) home with some savvy base running to get Salve a 4-3 lead. A Brandon Grover (Ashland, Mass.) sacrifice fly would score D'Amato next to double the Seahawks lead. The eighth inning was more of the same as the Seahawks added two more runs for insurance. Sequeira belted a double into extremely shallow right center field to bring home Michael Breen (Auburn, Mass.), followed up by a legitimate gap-shot from D'Amato to make it 7-3 Seahawks.

Graham Jeffries (Chelmsford, Mass.) got into the win column, allowing three earned runs through seven innings with a strikeout. Jason Arrigo (Basking Ridge, N.J.) shoved and got the save with two strikeouts, notably coming into the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded and getting a double-play ball to get the Seahawks defense out of a game-saving jam. The Seahawks notched a true team win on Saturday, scoring seven runs and turning two double plays with the bases loaded.

The Seahawks (2-2, 0-0 CCC) have two games on Sunday in Auburndale, Florida against the University of Mount Union and William Paterson University.