CENTERVILLE, Mass. – For the fourth consecutive season and fifth time in program history the Wentworth baseball team will be playing in the ECAC Division III New England Baseball Tournament. As announced by the ECAC this morning, the Leopards will be the tournament's fourth seed and will host a first-round game against crosstown foe and fifth-seeded Suffolk on Wednesday (May 11) at 3:00 p.m., at Northeastern University's Parsons Field.
The Leopards (24-15) are coming off of their second consecutive trip to the semifinal round of The Commonwealth Coast Conference Baseball Tournament where they defeated Salve Regina (3-1) and upset 25th-ranked Western New England, 7-1, before falling to the Golden Bears, 4-2 and 9-3, on Saturday. This marks the fourth consecutive season Wentworth has won 20 or more games and the 24 wins to date are the third-most in program history. Offensively, sophomore catcher Ryan Delgado (Wareham, Mass.) leads the way with a .398 batting average, with senior first baseman Ben Danker (Branford, Conn.) and junior shortstop Conner Flisnik (Marcy, N.Y.) hitting .381 and .314, respectively. All three, in addition to freshman outfielder Jon Spitz (Hanover, Mass.), were named Honorable Mention All-TCCC last week. On the mound, senior Doug Papuga (Branford, Conn.) is 5-2 with a 3.97 earned run average, junior Adam Farrar (Newport, Vt.), who shut out Western New England for eight innings last Thursday, is 4-3 with a 4.23 ERA, and sophomore Alex Wong (Lewiston, Maine) is 3-2 with a 4.25 ERA.
Winners of this tournament in 2000, the Rams enter today's game at UMass Dartmouth with a 22-20 record, including winning six of their last eight contests. This past weekend Suffolk knocked off 16th-ranked Wheaton and split with MIT, which is ranked in the NCAA Regional Poll. Suffolk came out of the loser's bracket in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament to face St. Joseph's (Maine) in the championship game, but was defeated, 8-6. The Rams placed seven student-athletes on the GNAC All-Conference Team, including senior Alex Torres (Framingham, Mass.) and freshman Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.), who were named the conference's pitcher and rookie of the year, respectively.
Wentworth is coached by Steve Studley (Castleton State '94), who is in his seventh season at the helm and has a program-best 134-128-1 (.511) record as a career head coach. One hundred and five of those wins have come over the last four seasons as the Leopards are 105-62-1 (.628) during that span. Suffolk head coach Cary McConnell (Wooster '89) is in his 17th season as the Rams' head coach and has a 402-223-2 (.643) record at Suffolk. Including three seasons at the University of Rochester, McConnell is 457-283-2 (.617).
In four previous ECAC Tournament appearances, Wentworth is 3-4, which includes advancing to last season's championship game. Wednesday's game will mark the 15th all-time meeting between the two schools, but the first since the 1999 season. Suffolk, which has won the last three meetings between the two schools, holds an 11-3 series lead.
2011 ECAC DIVISION III NEW ENGLAND BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
First Round (Wednesday, May 11)
(8) Becker (22-11) at (1) Endicott (30-15), 4:00 p.m.
(5) Suffolk (22-20) at (4) Wentworth (24-15), 3:00 p.m.
(3) Worcester State (23-14) at (6) Coast Guard (20-15), 3:00 p.m.
(7) Anna Maria (24-19) at (2) Brandeis (24-18), 3:30 p.m.
Semifinals (Saturday, May 14 – at higher seeds)
Endicott/Becker winner vs Wentworth/Suffolk winner, TBA; Brandeis/Anna Maria winner vs Worcester State/Coast Guard winner, TBA
Finals (Sunday, May 15 – at higher remaining seed)
Semifinal winners, TBA
June 10, 2011
Delgado Earns CCBL Invite
May 11, 2011
Baseball Falls in ECAC Quarterfinals, 7-2
May 9, 2011
Baseball Team Garners Fourth Straight ECAC Berth
May 7, 2011
Baseball Eliminated From TCCC Tournament
May 5, 2011
Baseball Advances in TCCC Tournament
May 4, 2011
Four Baseball Players Earn All-TCCC Honors
May 3, 2011
Baseball Opens TCCC Tournament Play With 3-1 Win
May 2, 2011
Baseball Seeded Fourth in TCCC Tournament
April 30, 2011
Baseball Falls in Regular-Season Finale
April 28, 2011
Baseball Grounds Seahawks, 13-6
April 27, 2011
Baseball Falls Twice at New England College
April 25, 2011
Baseball Splits With Endicott
April 25, 2011
Wong, Colanto Honored by TCCC
April 21, 2011
Baseball Holds Off Mass. Maritime, 13-10
April 18, 2011
Strong Pitching Carries Baseball Team to Sweep
April 16, 2011
Anna Maria Sweeps Baseball, 2-1 and 9-4
April 12, 2011
Wentworth Sweeps Eastern Nazarene
April 10, 2011
Wentworth, Western New England Split Twinbill
April 9, 2011
Extra, Extra
April 6, 2011
Strong Pitching, Timely Hitting Pace Wentworth in Sweep
April 3, 2011
Wentworth Sweeps Curry, 8-6 and 3-1
March 23, 2011
Wentworth Edges Brandeis, 5-4, in 10 Innings
March 20, 2011
Wentworth, Colby-Sawyer Split TCCC Doubleheader
March 19, 2011
Wentworth Tops Johnson & Wales, 9-7
March 17, 2011
Baseball Falls to MIT, 9-3
March 16, 2011
Harvey, Lewis Earn Weekly Honors
March 12, 2011
Wentworth Walks Off With Split
March 11, 2011
Baseball Team Splits With Mitchell
March 8, 2011
Wentworth Edges Drew in 10 Innings, 6-4
March 8, 2011
Danker, Colanto Earn TCCC Honors
March 7, 2011
Wentworth, Rochester Split Twinbill
March 6, 2011
Leopards Split Season-Opening Twinbill
November 22, 2010
Oggeri Honored With Sportsmanship Award