Top Four Seeds To Appear In Pod Finals

WINTHROP, Mass. - The top four seeds (#1 Johnson & Wales, #2 Mitchell, #3 Lasell, and #4 University of Saint Joseph (Conn.)) will all appear in tomorrow's Pod A/B Finals in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Tournament. 

#1 Johnson & Wales and #2 Mitchell remained unbeaten in the winner's bracket as they will both host their respective pods as JWU (Pod A) defeated Colby-Sawyer 12-2 and Mitchell (Pod B) collected another monstrous victory over Rivier, 23-2.

Meanwhile, the Lasers needed two bounce back victories to stay alive, defeating Anna Maria 4-3 and Rivier 6-4 as they will face Mitchell in tomorrow's Pod B play. That is set for a 11 AM start. USJ bounced back after an earlier loss to JWU and ended Colby-Sawyer's season in a 16-7 victory and will set up a rematch against Johnson & Wales tomorrow at noon.

Pod Finals – Sunday, May 4

Pod A
(Hosted by No. 1 seed Johnson & Wales)

Game 6A – #1 Johnson & Wales vs. #4 University of Saint Joseph (Conn.), 12 PM
Game 7A – If necessary (approximately 45 minutes after)

Pod B
(Hosted by No. 2 seed Mitchell)

Game 6B – #2 Mitchell vs. #3 Lasell, 11 AM
Game 7B – If necessary (approximately 45 minutes after)

Recap/Photo Courtesy of JWU Athletic Communications

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Senior Trevor Juan smashed a pair of home runs – including his second grand slam of the season – and drove in six in a 12-2 win for the JWU (Providence) baseball team over the University of Saint Joseph (CT) Saturday afternoon in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) playoffs at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex.

Juan launched his sixth home of the season on a 2-0 fastball over the left field fence in the second to plate four before sending his seventh home run out to left in the third to push the Wildcats (25-13) into the finals of their pod, where they will face the either Colby-Sawyer or the Blue Jays Sunday morning at noon.

Freshman Yedan Diaz also left the yard as he smoked a solo home run in the seventh. Junior Jack Obert racked up four hits while senior Owen Davis went 3-for-5 and sophomore Jeff Valdez Jimenez recorded two hits and an RBI.

Junior Brett Nickerson allowed five hits and two runs to go with two walks and five punchouts over six to improve to 6-2 on the season.

Recap/Courtesy of Mitchell Athletic Communications

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Sophomore Chase Donahue (Shirley, Mass.) went 3-3 with a pair of home runs and nine RBI, as the second-seeded Mitchell College baseball team erupted for 23 runs during a 23-2 victory over sixth-seeded Rivier University on Saturday afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Championship Tournament game at Alumni Field.

The Mariners have now scored 43 runs across two games to begin the GNAC Tournament, with the 23 runs being the most the team has scored in a single game this season. 

The nine runs driven in by Donahue tie a single-game record, while senior Chris Gibbs (New Britain, Conn.) earned his 26th career victory, becoming all-time winningest pitcher in the Division III era of the Mitchell baseball program.

Senior Michael Gajda (New Britain, Conn.) added a pair of hits, including his sixth homer of the season, driving in four and scoring three times. Juniors Kenneth Miller Jr. (New London, Conn.), Nicholas Bracale (East Haven, Conn.), and Adam Vartanian (Cumberland, R.I.) chipped in two hits apiece in the win, each registering a double.

The Mariners attacked early, as Ryan Dennis led off the game with a walk and advanced to third on a double by Bracale. The first run then came home on an error by the Rivier shortstop, before a double down the leftfield line by Miller Jr. made it a 2-0 ballgame. Michael Gajda then laced a two-run single up the middle, before Donahue tacked two more runs on with an RBI single to right field.

The offensive onslaught continued, as Ryan Dennis added an RBI double to make it 7-0, chasing Rivier starting pitcher Nate Bonacorsi from the game after having recorded just one out. Chris Volino came out of the bullpen for the Raiders and immediately surrendering a sacrifice fly, pushing the Mitchell lead to eight runs.

After the Raiders responded with one run in the bottom of the first, Mitchell padded their lead in the second on a two-run home run to left center off the bat of Donahue. The Mariners added five more runs in the third inning, four more in the fourth on a Chase Donahue grand slam, and four more to cap the scoring in the fifth, as the game concluded after seven innings due to the 10-run rule.

Gibbs, who improved to 6-3 this season, allowed just one run in three innings of work before the bullpen took over for the day.

Nate Bonacorsi recorded one out and was the losing pitcher, surrendering eight runs (four earned). Kyle Hsu finished 2-3 with a walk and one RBI for the Raiders in the loss.

The Mariners (24-16) will play for the Pod B Championship on Saturday at 11:00 am, facing the winner of Saturday afternoon's game between third-seeded Lasell University and #6 Rivier University.

Recap/Photo Courtesy of Lasell Athletic Communications

Recap Coming Soon!

Recap/Photo Courtesy of USJ Athletic Communications

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) baseball team kept its title hopes alive Saturday in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament, bouncing back from a mercy-rule loss to top-seeded Johnson & Wales with a 16-7 victory over Colby-Sawyer in Pod A play at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletics Complex.

The No. 4 seed Blue Jays (25-17) must now defeat Johnson & Wales twice on Sunday on the Wildcats' home field to advance to the GNAC Championship Series, which begins Thursday. Colby-Sawyer, the No. 8 seed, ends its season at 14-26.

Game 1: Johnson & Wales 12, Saint Joseph 2 (7 innings)

USJ jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Junior outfielder Dom Scalia (Northford, Conn.) singled up the middle to score junior infielder JJ Fox (Killingworth, Conn.), followed by an RBI groundout from freshman outfielder Joe Gratta (Bristol, Conn.) to plate freshman Jack Kane (West Hartford, Conn.).

Johnson & Wales responded with 10 unanswered runs over the next three innings, including a second-inning grand slam by Trevor Juan to give the Wildcats a 6-2 lead. The Blue Jays did not put another runner in scoring position until the seventh.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• USJ is now 0-4 all-time vs. Johnson & Wales.
• Kane went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
• Six different Blue Jays recorded hits.

Game 2: Saint Joseph 16, Colby-Sawyer 7

Freshman catcher Jack Kushman (Southington, Conn.) got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly in the second inning to bring home sophomore Joseph Fritz (Tampa, Fla.).

Colby-Sawyer answered with four runs in the bottom half, including a two-run homer by Devin Montalvo—his first career home run. The Chargers held a 5-2 lead entering the fifth inning.

USJ trimmed the deficit to 5-4 after a wild pitch scored Fox and Gratta drove in Kane with a groundout. The Chargers answered in the bottom of the frame with a two-run single by Janai Cruz to push the lead to 7-4.

The Blue Jays responded in the sixth. Sophomore Tyler Carlstrom (Rocky Hill, Conn.) tripled home Fritz, then scored on a safety squeeze by Kushman to make it 7-6. After freshman right-hander Ozzie Weber (Manchester, Vt.) tossed a scoreless sixth, the USJ offense exploded.

Junior Ryan Quinn (Middletown, Conn.) gave USJ the lead for good with a two-run double. Gratta, Shaw, and Kushman all added RBIs in a nine-run seventh inning that saw USJ take a commanding 15-7 lead.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The 16 runs are a program record for a GNAC Tournament game.
• The nine-run seventh inning is USJ's highest-scoring inning this season.
• Kushman finished 1-for-2 with a career-high five RBIs.
• Quinn went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, his eighth multi-RBI game of the year.
• Kane was 3-for-4 with a game-high four runs scored.
• Nine different Blue Jays had at least one hit.
• Weber (3-1) earned the win with 4.1 scoreless innings in relief.
• USJ is now 3-0 all-time vs. Colby-Sawyer and picked up its first GNAC Tournament win in the series.

UP NEXT
The Blue Jays will face Johnson & Wales at noon Sunday in the Pod A final. If USJ wins, the teams will meet again later in the afternoon in a winner-take-all game. The winner advances to the GNAC Championship Series.