HOOKSETT, N.H. – Junior Mike La Rocca (Vero Beach, Fla.) knocked in a pair of runs, and sophomore Frankie Sanchez (Kendall Park, N.J.) and junior Trevor Anibal (Bedford, N.H.) allowed only three hits, as the No. 10/13 and top-seeded Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) baseball team doubled up RV/No. 26 and third-seeded Le Moyne College, 4-2, in game 2 of the NCAA Baseball Championship East Super-Regional on Saturday afternoon at Penmen Field to capture its fifth regional crown and punch its ticket to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship in Cary, N.C.
SNHU grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning on RBI singles by La Rocca and Schwartz and added a run on a wild pitch in the top of the fifth. Le Moyne answered later in the fifth off sophomore Benji Ries’ (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) solo home run to left, followed in the sixth on a solo shot to left-center off the bat of graduate student Dewey Rode (Sherrill, N.Y.).
SNHU went ahead 4-2 in the top of the seventh and Anibel came in to secure his fourth save of the NCAA Tournament.
SNHU, ranked 10th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II Top 25 and 13th in the Collegiate Baseball Division II Poll, has won 31 of its last 34. The 42 wins for the Penmen stand alone as the fifth most in a single season in program history.
SNHU, which captures its third straight NCAA East Regional Championship, improves to 41-24 (.625) all-time in the NCAA postseason, including 3-0 against Le Moyne. The Penmen, who win the region for the fifth time (2012, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023), also do so for the fourth time in the last five tournaments (no NCAA postseason was held in 2020 due to COVID-19).
The Penmen will await their seed for the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, which begins June 3 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C..
