BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Sophomore Xavier Botelho went 2-for-4 with three RBI to propel the Johnson & Wales (RI) University baseball team to a 10-0 win over Bridgewater State Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament Regionals at Alumni Field on the camps of Bridgewater State University.

Highlights - Wildcats vs Bears 

With the win, the Wildcats advance to the championship round for the first time in program history, where they will take on N o. 6 Endicott on Monday at noon. JWU – which broke the single-season record for wins with 30 – need one to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals next weekend; the Gulls would need to defeat the Wildcats twice to eliminate them.

Sophomore Trevor Juan went 3-for-6 with a solo home run while junior Jack Magane had a pair of hits and an RBI single for the Wildcats, who saw eight of the nine starters collect at least one hit. On the bump, junior Ryan Schultz tossed seven shutout innings to improve to 6-0 on the season. He scattered eight hits, walked one, and struck out two.

The Wildcats grabbed a 1-0 lead three batters into the game on a sac fly off from senior Miles Kelly that scored freshman Jack Obert. Three innings later, the visitors blew the game open by scoring four times in both the fourth and fifth innings to open up a 9-0 lead.

Botelho began the fourth-inning rally with an RBI single, and after another run scored on a double play, a single from junior Jack Magane brought in junior Thorin Sanchez-Guerra from second to make it 4-0. Obert followed with a double to left that brought around Magane and stretched the lead to 5-0.

In the fifth, a bases-loaded double off the bat of Botelho extended the JWU lead to 7-0 before a wild pitch and an RBI single from Magane made it 9-0. Juan capped the scoring in the eighth when he led off the 10th round tripper of the season.