Baseball heads north Thursday for Region XXI Tournament opener against Northern Essex
May 3, 2022
The Community College of Rhode Island baseball team plays its NJCAA Division III Region XXI Tournament opener this Thursday, May 5 at Trinity Stadium in Haverhill, MA, against the region’s No. 1 seed Northern Essex Community College.
Four colleges are competing for the opportunity to win the double-elimination Region XXI Tournament and play the Region XIX Tournament winner in the best-of-three District F Championship for an automatic berth to the NJCAA Division III College World Series, which begins May 28 in Greenville, TN. In their last full season before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Knights finished 27-12, won the 2019 Region XXI and District F tournaments, and earned a spot in the D-III World Series. CCRI has won 12 regional titles since 1987.
This year, the Knights finished 10-20 and will face red-hot Northern Essex in its regional tournament opener. Northern Essex finished the regular season with 28 consecutive wins for a 36-2 overall record and is ranked No. 3 in the country. First pitch Thursday is 7 pm. The winner between CCRI and Northern Essex faces the winner of Thursday afternoon’s game between No. 2 seed Massasoit and No. 3 seed Quinsigamond, which begins at 3:30. The two teams that lose on Thursday face one another in an elimination game Saturday at Fraser Field in Lynn, MA.
The Knights are anchored by freshman outfielder Tyler Monahan (Woonsocket, RI), who led the team in batting average (.457), home runs (5), and RBI (30). Northern Essex finished 10th in the nation in runs (386), second in slugging percentage (.607), No. 1 overall in team ERA (1.70), and second in strikeouts per nine innings (12.95).