NEWARK — Delaware Military Academy scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, and they proved to be enough for the No. 2 Seahawks in a DIAA baseball quarterfinal-round victory over Salesianum, the 10th seed. DMA added four more later in the contest on the way to a 7-1 victory May 30 at Newark National Little League.
Sammy Diaz led off the bottom of the first with an infield single. He moved to second on a wild pitch, then took third when the throw went into center field. A one-out walk put runners at the corners, and Jackson Dorsey knocked in Diaz with a single to left. Sals pitcher Aidan Chermol got the second out on a strikeout, but Logan Wiley drove in a pair when Salesianum’s outfielders lost his fly ball in the sun, and it fell untouched.
Chermol settled in after that, allowing just one run over the next three innings. That came in the fourth, when an error led to an unearned run on a Diaz Martinez single.
The Sals had a runner in the first and second innings, but both were picked off first base by Seahawks pitcher Drew Simpson. They scored their lone run in the fourth. Jack Rossi led off with a single, and the next batter, Nate McBride, doubled down the right field line. Jude Swift scored Rossi on a groundout, but Salesianum could not generate any more runs. They would manage two more hits in their final three at bats.
DMA closed out the scoring in their half of the fifth. Simpson led off the inning with a towering home run to left field. Dorsey singled, and with two outs, came home on another homer, this one to right field by Tyler Leech.
Simpson went the distance, allowing six hits and striking out eight. Diaz had three hits, and Dorsey and Sean Bogan each had two. DMA (18-2) will play No. 6 Cape Henlopen on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Frawley Stadium.
Tre Villanova had two hits for the Sals, who finished the season 12-9.
All photos by Mike Lang.
