Box Score

MARIETTA — Salisbury junior Dan Fein has pitched in some tough spots in three years with the Sea Gulls.

What he faced in the ninth inning at the 2014 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional at Marietta College's Don Schaly Stadium probably tops them all.

Fein, who is typically a starter for Doug Fleetwood's team, was called in to close the door as John Carroll (24-16) had rallied from five down to pull within one run and no outs. The Southbury, Conn., native slammed the door shut on the Blue Streaks as Salisbury (34-7) held on for a 9-8 victory.

"I was comfortable coming out there because last year I started out of the bullpen," Fein said. "Kyle (Hamby) didn't have his best stuff today, but there's been days I haven't had my best stuff and he's had my back. We just have to pick each other up."

Hamby, who entered the regional with seven saves and a 1.17 ERA, couldn't get an out in the ninth inning. He left after surrendering four runs on four hits.

"We didn't pitch well enough today to play in a regional. We've got to pitch a lot better than we did today," Fleetwood said. "In the end we couldn't get an out. Fortunately we got Dan in and he got us a couple outs there."

John Carroll coach Marc Thibeault was impressed by his team's no-quit attitude, but said they need to put together a complete nine innings to win regional games.

"Heart. Our kids showed a lot heart. We came through and strung together a lot of hits. I thought (Hamby) was a really good closer but he struggled a little bit to find the strike zone, which gave us a little bit of energy," Thibeault said. "We just created one out too many."

With the bases loaded and only one out, Fein got Tyler Gentile at home on Mitchell Herringshaw's bunt and then coaxed Rob Cifelli to fly out to right for the win.

"When you have a 9-2 or 9-4 lead you have to be able to close out the game," Fleetwood said. "We swung the bats decently. We made three errors that hurt us. I think our defense cost us a regional championship last year so we have to do better than that. With all of that being said we got a win so we feel a lot better than those guys do."

The third-seeded Sea Gulls jumped on JCU starter Aaron Lapaglia for six runs on six hits in the second inning. The big hit of the inning was Bill Root's two-run triple. John Carroll added two runs in the top of third to close the gap to 6-2, but Salisbury responded with three runs in the fourth.

Salisbury senior Quinn Griffith had a big day at the plate with three hits and two RBI, while junior Jordan Gowe went 3-for-3 with a run. Junior Bobby Sanzone added two hits and two RBI.

"Big innings are the thing that could get us to the next level. Obviously we want to go out there and put the stopper on them late in the game. But when you're scoring like that in some innings you want to go out there and throw up a zero the next inning," Griffith said. "This is my last hoorah and I want to go out there and just have fun."

Salisbury starter Brett Collacchi gave up three runs on nine hits over six innings for his 11th win of the season.

JCU pitcher Tyler Ferretti slowed down the Salisbury bats over the final 4 1/3 innings, which gave the Blue Streaks a chance to come back. Jimmy Spagna went 4-for-5 with three RBI and his fifth home run of the season. David Crowley added three hits and two RBI.