Homa's seventh inning single hoists Seahawks above Red Dragons, 4-2

CORTLAND, N.Y. (Saturday, May 18, 2024) -- Christian Homa's (Fairfield, Conn.) seventh inning single which allowed Evan O'Rourke (Arlington, Mass) and Brandon Grover (Ashland, Mass.) to score made a tied 2-2 ball game a 4-2 victory for Salve Regina University baseball over SUNY Cortland in game four of the Cortland NCAA regional. 

It was a rainy morning but cleared just in time for Sean Mulligan (Verona, N.J.) to take the mound for the Seahawks. Mulligan pitched six innings, threw 71 strikes in 119 pitches, faced 29 batters and delivered six strikeouts. 

The action took time to get going. It wasn't until the bottom of the third inning that any runners made it across the plate. Following Michael Breen's (Auburn, Mass.) double and Grover's single there was only one out. O'Rourke stepped up to the plate and singled down the center giving Breen the go-ahead to advance home. Salve Regina led 1-0 until the top of the sixth inning. 

With one out in the sixth inning Red Dragons' Nick Chemotti (Syracuse, N.Y.) singled which brought in a runner and Chris Bonacci (Syracuse, N.Y.) hit a sacrifice fly to center field which allowed another Cortland run to score and set them ahead 2-1. 

Salve Regina maintained composure and the seventh inning was the turning point. It started out when Brady Smolinski (North Grafton, Mass.) walked after four balls from Cortland's Ryan Banks (Woodbury, N.Y.). Grover also advanced after being hit by pitch and Tommy Lynch (West Seneca, N.Y.) entered, lasting only one at-bat against a formidable Seahawk lineup. O'Rourke reached on a fielder's choice to shortstop, Grover advanced to second on a muffed throw and Smolinski scored making it a 2-2 ball game with only one out in the inning. 

Next in the batting lineup, Christian Homa stepped up to the plate, singled to right center, advancing O'Rourke and Grover home for a 4-2 score, which stuck for the remainder of the contest. 

"I just stayed to what I know," said Mulligan. "We've had a great year, and we have really pulled things together. It's hard not to have confidence with these boys. I've got 49 brothers on this team; I just go out there and throw for them every day." 

Also on the mound was reliever Jason Arrigo (Basking Ridge, N.J.) entered at the beginning of the seventh inning, faced ten batters, threw 26 strikes in 39 pitches and struck out three. 

"You trust your training and prepare the right way," said Arrigo. "When game time comes it's just second nature. We trust what we did in practice and had a good result. Today coming out of the bullpen my job was just to get the hitters back in the dugout and let them go to work. We hoped we could scratch across a couple of runs, thankfully we did and we were able to close it out." 

No. 1 Seed Salve Regina University defeats No. 2 Seed SUNY Cortland to advance to the championship round of the Cortland Regional in New York (hosted by SUNY Cortland at Wallace Field). pic.twitter.com/nXkTsRjX4a

— Salve Regina Sports (@SalveAthletics) May 19, 2024

This morning the Washington & Jefferson College Presidents shutout the Colby College Mules 7-0. After losing to Salve Regina yesterday and the Presidents this morning, Colby is done in the NCAA tournament. This was the first year in program history that the Mules advanced to an NCAA regional. 

Yesterday Cortland beat Washington & Jefferson 9-2 at Robert H. Wallace '53 Field to advance to the winners bracket today. With their loss to the Seahawks, they will play the Presidents again this afternoon. The winner of this matchup will see the Seahawks tomorrow at 11 a.m. The loser's run in the NCAAs will be over.