Mitchell, JWU To Meet Once Again In Championship Series
WINTHROP, Mass. - It will be a rematch of the 2024 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Championship as both #1 seed Johnson & Wales and #2 seed Mitchell will meet again in the GNAC Baseball Championship Series with this time being held at JWU. The winner of this Championship Series will earn the league's Automatic Qualifier into the 2025 NCAA DIII Baseball Tournament.
The Wildcats defeated #4 USJ earlier on their home field today, keeping their undefeated postseason streak alive while the Mariners used their clutch bats against #3 Lasell late in the ninth inning to send the defending champions back into the Championship Series.
In last year's Championship Series, it was Mitchell who came out on top winning two games in a row over the Wildcats in their inaugural season in the GNAC. The two split in conference play earlier on in the regular season. The Mariners will look to go back-to-back while the Wildcats look for their fifth GNAC title in the program's history.
The Championship Series schedule is listed below:
Championship Series – Thursday, May 8
(Hosted by Johnson & Wales)
Game 8 – #1 Johnson & Wales vs. #2 Mitchell, TBD
Championship Series – Friday, May 9
(Hosted by higher seed)
Game 9 – #1 Johnson & Wales v. #2 Mitchell, TBD
Game 10 – #1 Johnson & Wales v. #2 Mitchell, TBD (if necessary)
Recap/Photo Courtesy of JWU Athletic Communications
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Junior Jack Obert launched a three-run home run and drove in four for the JWU (Providence) baseball team in a 12-7 win over the University of Saint Joseph (CT) in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) pod finals Sunday afternoon at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex.
Senior Trevor Juan plated two with a double in the third and a sac fly in the fifth as the Wildcats (26-13) rallied from a 5-0 deficit to advance to the conference finals for the fourth-consecutive season and set up a rematch with Mitchell College, who ousted the Wildcats last spring to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Sophomore Jeff Valdez Jimenez picked up three hits and scored twice while seniors Owen Davis and Xavier Botelho, along with freshman Yedan Diaz, all collected two hits for head coach Kevin Casey.
Obert's second long ball of the season sparked a five-run third and pulled the Wildcats even with the Blue Jays at five. JWU took command of the game with four in the fifth behind sac flies off the bats of Juan and senior Ryan St. Jean, an RBI single from Obert, and a bases-loaded HBP to senior Zachary Amero to grab a 9-5 lead.
After USJ climbed to within two at 9-7 with two in the top of the sixth, run-scoring singles from Botelho and Diaz in the bottom half of the frame restored a four-run cushion (11-7). The home team tacked on one more in the seventh when Amero scored on a wild pitch.
Senior Garrett Fusco battled through six innings to notch his first win of the season. He allowed 12 hits and seven runs (five earned) with four walks and seven strikeouts. Seniors Evan LaMothe and Ryan Schultz closed out the game with three shutout innings.
Recap/Photo Courtesy of Mitchell Athletic Communications
NEW LONDON, Conn. – Junior Kenneth Miller Jr. (New London, Conn.) laced a walk-off RBI single up the middle on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Field, powering the second-seeded Mitchell College baseball team past third-seeded Lasell University, 2-1, and into the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Championship Series.
That best two-of-three series will be played Thursday, May 9, and Friday, May 10, with the location yet to be determined.
Miller Jr. went 2-4 and drove in a pair of runs, also collecting an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning. Junior Adam Vartanian (Cumberland, R.I.) had two hits of his own for the Mariners in the win, while freshman Ryan Dennis (Enfield, Conn.) was 1-1 with two walks and a run scored.
Senior Jadon Canelli (Northford, Conn.) got the start for Mitchell, working four shutout innings. Fellow senior Chris Gibbs (New Britain, Conn.) then returned to the mound of the second consecutive day and picked up his seventh win of the season, surrendering six hits and one run, striking out four batters.
After four scoreless innings to open the game, the Mariners jumped ahead in the bottom of the fifth when Miller Jr. laced an RBI single to left center to score Ryan Dennis, who had previously reached on a walk and stole second.
The Lasers answered in the top of the sixth, as CJ Mills hit a leadoff double and was driven in two batters later on a run scoring single through the left side by Tim Callahan.
Both teams traded scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth, before Gibbs worked his way around a base hit in the top of the ninth to keep the score tied. Junior Thai-ler Sestokas (Danbury, Conn.) worked a pinch hit walk to begin the bottom of the frame, before he advanced to third on a bunt single and throwing error by the Lasell catcher. After Ryan Dennis was intentionally walked and Nicholas Bracale(East Haven, Conn.) struck out, Kenneth Miller Jr. ripped a pitch by Lasell's Matthew Fletcher up the middle, sending the Mariners into a frenzy.
Chase Supan, Zachary Simone, and Adam Marsh combined to throw eight innings of one run ball for the Lasers, while Fletcher was tagged with the loss after recording just one out. Tim Callahan had a 2-4 day at the plate with a double and one RBI, while Scott Lyon, Ross Audet, and Jared Whitby had two hits apiece.
The Mariners (25-16) will prepare to face either top-seeded Johnson & Wales University or the fourth-seeded University of Saint Joseph in the upcoming GNAC Baseball Championship Series.
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHEAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 16 member institutions and over 4000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
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