NEWPORT, R.I. (April 18, 2026) -- No. 3-ranked Salve Regina University baseball celebrated a dozen seniors prior to sweeping a doubleheader from Springfield College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action at Reynolds Field in Newport, Rhode Island, on Saturday. The Class of 2026 features #2
Shane Williams (Georgetown, Mass.), #3
Evan O'Rourke (Arlington, Mass.), #5
Shea Donovan (Milton, Mass.), #14
Matt Stokes (Summit, N.J.), #21
Nate Ruehs (Plymouth, Mass.), #22
James Keating (Norwood, N.J.), #24
Elliot Hamilton (Glastonbury, Conn.), #25
Andrew Salbinski (Essex, Conn.), #31
Connor Toriello (North Berwick, Maine), #39
Joe DeRienzo (Trumbull, Conn.), #42
Sean Mulligan (Verona, N.J.), #43
Kyle Carozza (Fairfield, Conn.). Captains Carozza, Mulligan, Williams, and
Brady Smolinski (North Grafton, Mass.), a graduate student, took the turn to celebrate their Team Impact member -- Liam Chapman -- prior to Game 2.
Springfield (18-11, 5-5 NEWMAC) took the early lead in both games, but Salve Regina (26-3, 8-2 NEWMAC) responded immediately to exert their advantage.
Game 1
Sophomore
Nolan Romanowski (Wynantskill, N.Y.) improved to 9-0 on the season while pitching eight innings for the third time (career high is nine in NCAA Division III Championships last year in Harrisburg, Pa.). Romanowski allowed just four batters to reach base -- a walk, two singles to
Nate Garofalo (Kinderhook, N.Y.), and a solo home run to
Luke Barone (Monroe, N.Y.). Garofalo led off the third in a scoreless duel with a single to right field and
Kyle Mitchell (Wallingford, Conn.) followed with a base on balls.
Dan Surette (Braintree, Mass.) moved both up with a sac bunt and
Chris Balchius (Norwalk, Conn.) lifted a sac fly to O'Rourke in left field.
Donovan led off the Seahawk third with a walk. Williams lined a ground rule double to left field. O'Rourke created the tie with an RBI ground out to second base.
In a four-run fifth, O'Rourke singled with one out and
Danny Rogers (New Canaan, Conn.) singled through the right side. Hamilton doubled down the left field line for the go-ahead run and Smolinski made it 3-1 with a single to left field. After a
Grady Schopps (Fairfield, Conn.) loaded the bases, Stokes lifted a first-pitch sac fly to center field. A Pride miscue gave the Seahawks a 5-1 lead by the end of the frame.
Schopps' bases-loaded walk in the sixth brought in the sixth Seahawk run.
The Pride were prone to errors, committing five in the game, and allowed two unearned runs in the seventh.
Game 2
Junior
Luis Ortiz Ramirez (Boston, Mass.) improved to 6-0 on the season while matching his career-bests in innings pitched (seven, for the second time in last three outings) and strikeouts (six, for the third time this season and fourth overall). Barone had a first-inning, two-out RBI single through the right side scoring Balchius who had led off the game with a single in the same spot.
Jake Harring (Portsmouth, N.H.) led off the Seahawk first with a single up the middle. Williams, batting third, put the Seahawks ahead with a two-run opposite field home run. Williams leads the league with homers (11), RBI (51), and runs scored (50).
In the second inning, Harring's double down the left field line put Schopps on third before the Seahawk shortstop scored on a wild pitch. Harring came home on Donovan's infield single.
Ortiz Ramirez allowed a one-out double to
Jack Dunaisky (Longmeadow, Mass.) in the seventh inning before Mitchell scored him with a single. The Seahawk righty retired the final batter he faced on a strike three looking. DeRienzo got the final six outs to record his first collegiate save.
Salve Regina played error-free ball across 18 innings. The Seahawks play next against the Engineers of MIT on Tuesday (time and location to be announced).
