Courtesy Trinity Sports Information

MANSFIELD, Conn. - Junior LHP Derek Anderson (Great Falls, Va.) allowed three hits and no runs in eight innings on the mound with nine strikeouts to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 14-0 win over the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Engineers in the winner's bracket finals of the NCAA New England Regional Baseball Championship Friday evening at Eastern Connecticut State University.

Trinity improves to 32-5 with its sixth straight win and its second shutout of the day to advance to the finals on Sunday, May 17. The defending NCAA National Champion Bantams, which downed Southern Maine, 6-0, this morning, will play the winner of the loser's bracket, which will be determined tomorrow among WPI, Husson, and Eastern Connecticut. The Engineers fall to 30-12 and will play the winner of tomorrow's 1 p.m. game between Eastern Connecticut and Husson at 5 p.m. tomorrow.

Trinity took the lead immediately, eager to exact revenge on the team that ended its 16-game winning streak at home in late March. The Bantams scored in the top of the first inning on a double down the left field line by junior OF Matt Sullivan (North Reading, Mass.) and a two-out, RBI single by junior 1B Kent Graham (Longmeadow, Mass.).

The Bantams broke the game open with four runs in the top of the third frame and three more in the fourth inning. Senior co-captain C Sean Killeen (Greenfield, Mass.) led off the third by reaching on a WPI fielding error and advancing to second on a wild pitch. Bantam junior OF James Wood (Windham, N.H.) scored Killeen on a single and went on to score on a single to right by senior co-captain 2B Ryan Piacentini (Portland, Maine). After another Engineer error, Trinity freshman 3B Alex LiDonni (Norwood, Mass.) drove home Piacentini on a single to right and scored on a fielder's choice by sophomore SS Robert Martin (Lowell, Mass.). Killeen tripled home Sullivan, who had reached on a perfect bunt-hit down the third base line, in the fourth inning, and scored on a fielder's choice by Wood, who eventually played Trinity's eighth run on a bases-loaded walk by LiDonni. Trinity put together five straight hits to start the eighth inning en route to a six-run frame to account for the 14-0 final score.

Anderson improved to 5-1 for the season, and senior RHP Andrew Rathmann-Noonan (Devon, Pa.) added a scoreless ninth to preserve the shutout. Sean Minor (Los Angeles, Calif.) took the loss for WPI. Wood finished 3-for-5 with three runs, two RBI, and a double, while Killeen went 3-for-6 with three runs, two doubles, and a triple for the Trinity offense. The Bantams racked up 17 hits and took advantage of seven WPI errors. Senior Scott McNee (Falmouth, Mass.) went 2-for-4 for WPI.