JWU, Mitchell, Rivier, USJ Take Victories in Day 1 of Pod Play

WINTHROP, Mass. - The first day of Pod Play began in the 2025 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Tournament this afternoon as all top seeds except one came away with victories.  

In Pod A, No. 1 seed and host Johnson & Wales defeated No. 8 Colby-Sawyer, 22-6, while No. 4 University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) defeated No. 5 Saint Joseph's (Maine), 6-4. JWU and USJ will look to earn their spot as they face each other in Game 4A at 2PM for a spot in Sunday's Pod Finals. Meanwhile, the Monks and Chargers will battle it out to keep their seasons alive in a 11 AM contest with the winner redeeming a chance to play in Game 5A at 5 pm to clinch a spot in the Pod Finals.

In Pod B, No.2 seed and host Mitchell defeated No. 7 Anna Maria, 20-3, while No. 6 Rivier collected an upset over No. 3 Lasell, 9-2. The Mariners and Raiders will face each other tomorrow in Game 4B at 12 PM with the winner earning a spot in the Pod Finals on Sunday, May 4th. Meanwhile, the Lasers and Amcats (Game 3B) will look to keep their seasons alive at 8:30 AM with the winner getting a chance to play the losing team of Game 5B (3 PM) to clinch a spot in the Pod Finals game as well.

Recap/Photo Courtesy of Johnson & Wales Athletic Communications

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The JWU (Providence) baseball team opened the 2025 Great Northeast Athletic Playoffs with a commanding 22-6 win over Colby-Sawyer College Friday afternoon at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex. With the win, the Wildcats will play at 2 p.m. Saturday against the winner of the USJ / St. Joseph's (ME) contest.

Redshirt junior Ryan Ducey smacked his first collegiate home run in the first and finished 4-for-5 with five RBI for the Wildcats (24-13), who pounded out 23 hits and saw all nine starters drive in at least one run. Freshman Yedan Diaz picked up a career-high five hits to go with five RBI while senior Trevor Juan and junior Jack Obert each plated three.

JWU blew the game open with eight runs in the first, highlighted by Ducey's two-run jack, a two-run single off the bat of Diaz, and a two-run double from Obert in his second AB of the frame. The Chargers (13-25) cut their deficit in half with four off JWU starter Aidan Vining in the second, however a two-run double from Diaz sparked a three-run bottom half of the inning and made it 11-4.

Run-scoring hits from Juan and senior Owen Davis in the fourth stretched the lead to 14-4 after four, and RBI singles by Diaz in the fifth and senior Xavier Botelho in the sixth extended the home team's cushion to 16-4. Juan later plated two with a double in the seventh to make it 19-4.

Vining – a redshirt junior from Woburn, Massachusetts – overcame early control issues to pick up his eighth win of the season. He allowed five hits and four runs to go with two walks and 10 punchouts.

Recap/Photo Courtesy of Mitchell Athletic Communications

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The second-seeded Mitchell College baseball team erupted for 20 runs and 17 hits to open up the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Championship Tournament on Friday afternoon, powering past seventh-seeded Anna Maria College, 20-3, in pod play at Alumni Field.

Junior Nicholas Bracale (East Haven, Conn.) turned in a big day at the plate, finishing 4-6 with a home run, four RBI, and four runs scored. Sophomore Chase Donahue (Shirley, Mass.) reached base six times, collecting three hits and three walks, while freshman Ryan Dennis (Enfield, Conn.) had two hits in four at bats, adding three runs, three stolen bases, a pair of walks, and one RBI.

Sophomore Chas Terni Jr. (Montville, Conn.) added a homer, while Michael Gajda (New Britain, Conn.), Kenneth Miller Jr. (New London, Conn.), Braiden Alaimo (Enfield, Conn.), and Adam Vartanian(Cumberland, R.I.) each doubled in the win.

The Mariners struck first in the opening game of the day, as Ryan Dennis worked a leadoff walk, stole second, and eventually came around to score on an RBI groundout by sophomore Michael Ficocelli(North Providence, R.I.). The AMCATS loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the second and pushed the tying run across when Matthew Cinque laid down a run scoring bunt single. With the bases still loaded, Mitchell starter Eddie Kaftan escaped the jam, retiring the next two batters in order.

Anna Maria jumped out to their first lead of the ballgame the following inning when Jeremy Rosenberg laced a leadoff triple to centerfield and Josh Batchelder drove him in on a run scoring single through the right side.

In the bottom of the frame, the Mariners were able to pull even, as Ryan Dennis walked, stole second, then scampered home on an RBI single to leftfield by Nicholas Bracale. Bracale then advanced two bases on a pair of wild pitches, before scoring on a Michael Ficocelli sacrifice fly, pushing Mitchell ahead, 3-2.

Following a scoreless fourth, the AMCATS tied the game in the fifth when Justin Chiulli ripped an RBI double to right center to score Jonathan Guardascione, who had reached on a single to centerfield.

The Mariners answered immediately using a run scoring double off the bat of Kenneth Miller Jr. to go up one run, before a bases clearing three-run double by Braiden Alaimo broke the game open. The Mariners added two runs in the sixth, five in the seventh, and six more in the eighth, setting a new high water mark for runs scored in a game this season.

Senior Eddie Kaftan (Old Lyme, Conn.) picked up the win, tossing seven innings of three-run ball, walking three and striking out seven.

Nick Choate surrendered seven runs in five innings of a losing effort for the AMCATS. Jonathan Guardascione had two hits, one RBI, and scored one run. Jeremy Rosenberg also had two hits for Anna Maria.

The Mariners (23-16) advance into the winner's bracket of the tournament's opening weekend and will face the winner Friday afternoon's game between #3 Lasell University and #6 Rivier University on Saturday, May 3, at 12:00 pm.

Recap/Photo Courtesy of USJ Athletic Communications

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The fourth-seeded University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) baseball team opened the 2025 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament with a 6-4 win over fifth-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine (SJC) on Friday afternoon at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletics Complex.

With the win, the Blue Jays (24-16) move into the winner's bracket of Pod A and will face top-seeded Johnson & Wales at 2 p.m. Saturday. Earlier in the day, Johnson & Wales defeated No. 8 Colby-Sawyer, 22-6. The Monks (20-18) drop to the elimination bracket and will take on Colby-Sawyer at 11 a.m. Saturday.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• SJC struck early with a leadoff home run from Jared Wilhelm, putting the Monks up 1-0 just six pitches into the game.
• USJ tied it in the bottom of the second when junior outfielder Dom Scalia (Northford, Conn.) launched his team-leading seventh home run of the season to left-center.
• The Monks regained the lead with two runs in the third to go up 3-1.
• In the fifth, junior infielder JJ Fox (Killingworth, Conn.) singled to right, scoring sophomore infielder Tyler Carlstrom (Rocky Hill, Conn.) after an errant throw to cut the deficit to 3-2.
• Senior infielder Ryan Shaw (Ellington, Conn.) tied it at 3-3 in the sixth with a single up the middle that brought home freshman outfielder Joe Gratta (Bristol, Conn.).
• Gratta then gave USJ its first lead in the seventh with a two-out RBI double, scoring Fox to make it 4-3.
• Fox added an RBI single in the eighth and later scored on a wild pitch to extend USJ's lead to 6-3.
• SJC scored once in the ninth and brought the go-ahead run to the plate, but sophomore right-hander Zach Thielen (Brooklyn, N.Y.) earned a six-out save—his team-leading fifth of the season—to close it out.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Junior right-hander Brandon Cahill (Meriden, Conn.) picked up the win (5-2), going seven innings and allowing three runs on nine hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
• USJ improved to 3-0 all-time against SJC, earning its first GNAC Tournament win in the series.
• The Blue Jays have now won their tournament opener for the second straight year, following a 9-1 win over Lasell in 2024.
• Fox went 4-for-5 from the leadoff spot for his second career four-hit game (also vs. Rivier on March 23).
• USJ collected 13 hits, its most ever in a GNAC Tournament game.

UP NEXT

Baseball faces top-seeded Johnson & Wales in the Pod A winner's bracket game at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex in Providence, R.I. USJ is 0-3 all-time against the Wildcats, including a 3-0 loss this season on April 9. A win would advance the Blue Jays to Sunday's Pod A finals. A loss would send them to a 5 p.m. elimination game against the winner of Saturday morning's SJC vs. Colby-Sawyer matchup.

Recap/Photo Courtesy of Rivier Athletic Communications

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The sixth-seeded Rivier baseball team downed No. 3 Lasell in Pod B action of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament on Friday afternoon at Alumni Field to earn its first postseason victory since the 2007 campaign.

The Raiders improved to 15-17 with the victory, while Lasell fell to 23-15 with the setback.

Rivier got on the board first, scoring on back-to-back RBI base hits from juniors Dylan Aliberti and Owen Medlock. Lasell cut the Raiders' lead in half in the bottom half of the frame to make it a 2-1 ballgame.

In the top of the fifth, Rivier scored twice to increase its lead to 4-1. Senior Jacob Boudreau recorded an RBI single before classmate Kyle Hsu scored Medlock from third on a squeeze play.

The Raiders added five runs over the eighth and ninth innings coming by way of the long ball, as three different Rivier batters recorded home runs to make it an eight-run game. Junior Nathan Innerfield blasted a solo shot to left before Luis Tejada followed that up with a two-run shot to make it 7-1 in the eighth before first-year Jayce Martinez notched his first collegiate homer.

Lasell only mustered one run in the bottom of the ninth to fall short of a comeback.

Junior starter Anthony Morro earned his fourth run of the season tossing 7.1 innings, giving up one earned run on four hits, three walks, and one hit by pitch while fanning 10 Lasers. His 10 strikeouts put him over 100 in his career. Classmate Ty Baker came in to close out the game in the eighth and allowed one earned run over 1.2 innings of work, striking out three batters faced while giving up one hit and one walk.

At the plate, Rivier amassed 14 hits as Medlock led the way going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and one run batted in. Innerfield, Tejada, Aliberti, and Martinez each registered two hits.

The Raiders return to Alumni Field for a matchup against the hosts, Mitchell, with a first pitch scheduled for noon.