WALTHAM, Mass. – Following a 22-20 regular season, the Bentley University Falcons will play at top-seeded, nationally-ranked and two-time defending champion Southern New Hampshire University Tuesday in the opening round of the 2023 Northeast-10 Conference championships. First pitch at Penmen Field is set for 3:30 pm and the game will be streamed on NE10 NOW.

The first round is single elimination with the four winners advancing into the double-elimination portion of the tournament, which will be contested at the highest advancing team from the Southwest Division.

Bentley, seeded fourth after an 11-13 conference record, closed the regular season with seven wins in its last nine games. The Falcons, in Mike Hill's first year as head coach, are third in the NE10 in batting average and on base percentage, as well as second in slugging. Hill's team is 18-1 when scoring at least seven runs and 12-4 when scoring in the first inning.

Southern New Hampshire, ranked 11^th by the NCBWA and 21^st by Collegiate Baseball, has won 26 of its last 28 and will enter the tournament with a 37-10 record, including 13-1.

Four of those home wins came against Bentley last month, with three of those walk-offs. The scores were 9-6 on a three-run game-ending homer, 16-4, 7-6 on a walk-off double and 6-5 on a game-ending sacrifice fly.

Graduate right-hander Brandon Ostiguy (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia HS) is expected to make the start for the Falcons. The former All-Northeast-10 relief pitcher leads the team in wins (4-3), innings (49.1), starts (11) and ERA (4.56) with his victories coming against Assumption, Adelphi, American International and Saint Anselm.

Six everyday players are hitting at least .300 for the Falcons, who own a .309 team average with 34 home runs. Seniors Eddy Beauregard (Paxton/Wachusett Reg. HS) and Steve Rizzuto (Belmont/Belmont HS) have both earned NE10 Player of the Week honors, as have sophomore left fielder Stan DeMartinis III (Boca Raton, Fla./American Heritage HS) and grad student Liam Sears (Springfield/Pope Francis HS).

Freshman shortstop and leadoff hitter Tommy Bolton (Tampa, Fla./Plant HS) leads the team in hitting (.352) and has scored 32 runs. Beauregard (.345/.431/.618), Sears (.331/.471/.531), Rizzuto (.324/..383/.522) and DeMartinis (.320/.444/.633) and four-year starting right-fielder Tim Zupkus (Middlebury, Conn./Holy Cross HS) (.308/.428/.510) all are hitting over .300, have slugging percentages north of .500, and all have at least 30 RBI.

DeMartinis has 50 runs scored, 10 home runs, 46 RBI and 12 stolen bases, all of which are team bests. Beauregard has gone deep eight times, Sears has six homers and Zupkus has five.

Southern New Hampshire, which has scored 460 runs and gone deep 73 times, has three players with at least ten home runs. Cam Caraher has a dozen, Nick Schwartz 11 and Mike La Rocca ten.

Senior right-hander Jeffrey Praml, who last pitched on April 28, could make the start for the Penmen. He's gotten the ball 11 times this season and has a 9-2 record, 63 strikeouts and a 2.43 ERA in 74 innings. Against Bentley April 15, he allowed eight hits and four runs in six innings.

In the other first round games, Adelphi is at Le Moyne, Franklin Pierce is facing American International and Southern Connecticut is at home against Pace.

NORTHEAST-10 BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tuesday, May 9 – First Round (single elimination)
Game 1:  #4 SW Adelphi at #1 SW Le Moyne (2:00 PM)
Game 2:  #3 SW Pace at #2 SW Southern Connecticut (3:30 PM) 
Game 3:  #4 NE Bentley at #1 NE SNHU (3:30 PM)
Game 4:  #3 NE American International at #2 NE Franklin Pierce (7:00 PM)

Thursday, May 11, Friday, May 12 and Saturday, May 13  (Finals weekend will be hosted by the Southwest Division)
Game 5:  Game 1 winner vs. Game 4 winner
Game 6:  Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner
Game 7:  Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 loser
Game 8:  Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner
Game 9:  Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 loser
Game 10:  Game 9 winner vs. Game 8 winner
Game 11:  If necessary.