BASEBALL: Suffolk in Driver's Seat in GNAC Tournament, SJC Wins Twice Saturday to Advance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

#2 SJC 3, #3 JWU 2 (Third Game Played Saturday)
STANDISH, Maine – Second-seeded Saint Joseph's College (29-12) edged #3 Johnson & Wales University (24-18), 3-2, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Tournament elimination game at Larry Mahaney Diamond on Saturday night.

TOURNAMENT IMPLICATIONS:
With the win, Saint Joseph's advances to the GNAC Championship and will face top-seeded Suffolk University, which defeated Johnson & Wales, 7-6, earlier today, tomorrow at 12:00 PM. In order to capture the conference crown Saint Joseph's needs to post a pair of wins over Suffolk, which is 2-0 in tourney play thus far. For Johnson & Wales, the setback signals the end of the 2018 season.

FIRST GLANCE:
Facing a 2-1 deficit in the top of the sixth, the Monks tied the game when junior right fielder Anthony DiPrizio (Rochester, N.H.) led off with a single and later scored when sophomore pinch-hitter Drew Healey (Rochester, N.H.) reached on an infield error. In the top of the eighth, senior center fielder Chris Gerossie (Chester, N.H.) rapped a lead-off single and scored what proved to be the game-winning run on a Joey Murphy (Derry, N.H.) sacrifice fly to right field.

KEY PLAYS:

• Sophomore catcher Cody Greenhalgh (Plainfield, Conn.) put the Wildcats on the board in the bottom of the first when he belted a two-run homer over the left field wall
• The Monks quickly cut their deficit in half with a run off two hits in the top of the second, when Murphy worked a bases-loaded walk

ON THE MOUND:

• Sophomore starter Matt Demma (Worcester, Mass.) did not factor into the decision after giving up two runs on five hits
• Sophomore Weston Bergeron (Lyman, Maine) struck out one in 2/3 inning of relief
• Freshman reliever Jonathan Marchia (Chicopee, Mass.) improved to 5-0 on the season after tossing 2.2 scoreless innings while fanning three batters
• Senior Josh Partridge (Deerfield, N.H.) earned his sixth save of the season – and second of the day – after fanning all four batters he faced in 1.1 innings
• JWU sophomore starter Kyle Cutler (East Hampton, Conn.) took the loss after yielding three runs (two earned) off six hits and four walks with four K's in eight frames
• Senior reliever Rich Marshall (Pawtucket, R.I.) fanned a pair in a scoreless inning

OFF THE BAT:

• DiPrizio was 2-4 with a pair of runs and a stolen base
• Murphy knocked in two runs and walked twice
• JWU sophomore Raimiel Rodriguez (Providence, R.I.) was 3-4 with a run
• Greenhalgh went 1-4 with the two-run tater

Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications.

#1 Suffolk 7, #3 JWU 6 (Second Game Played Saturday)
STANDISH, Maine – The top-seeded Suffolk baseball team rallied a comeback with three runs in the bottom of the eighth, while Ryan Pordes shoved on the hill to hold off No. 3 Johnson & Wales, 7-6, in the GNAC semifinals Saturday afternoon at Larry Mahoney Diamond.   

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 7, Johnson & Wales 6
RECORDS: Suffolk (23-16) | Johnson & Wales (24-17)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
A three-RBI shot from Johnson & Wales' Aidan Hagerty in the second cracked open the scoring and put the Rams in a hole where they stayed until the home half of the fifth. Rich Gilbride drew a walk to lead off the stanza before Brady Chant barreled a bomb out of the park to trim the margin to one. Suffolk's bats stayed hot as Seth Coiley and Greg Speliotis knocked back-to-back base hits before Will Hopkins sent the ball through the left side gap to score Coiley. Speliotis advanced to third on the freshman left fielder's hit and scored the go-ahead run on a sac fly from Blasé Cormier.  

The Wildcats made up ground and regained a 5-4 edge in the top of the sixth before Suffolk came back in the eighth. Cormier started things off with a double to right center, moved to third on a sac bunt by Tim Brigham and scored the tying-run onGilbride's single to short. Gilbride put the Rams on top with a heads up baserunning play when JWU's second baseman Ramiel Rodriguez boxed the ball after making a diving stop on a Chant single.  

Pordes picked up the first two outs on the top of the ninth before Jake Flax secured the final down of the game to be sure to send Suffolk back to the ship for the 12th consecutive campaign.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Pordes improved to 5-2 on the season after allowing six runs on 10 hits and seven walks, while sitting down 11 over 8.2 innings. 
• Flax earned the save, his third of the year, after sitting down the only batter he faced in the home half of the ninth. 
• JWU's starter James Smiegocki yielded four runs off 10 hits, while striking out five and walking one in 6.1 innings. 
• Josh Mousseau was hit with the hard-luck loss after allowing three runs (one earned) off three hits with three Ks in 1.2 innings.   

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Chant went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer with two RBI and one run. 
• Speliotis recorded a 2-for-4 effort with one run. 
• Trevor Lee (2-5) and Hopkins (2-4) each had two-hit outings with one RBI apiece. 
• Brigham tallied two hits and one sac fly.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk advances to its 12th consecutive conference championship contest.
• In 19 tournament trips, Suffolk has reached the conference championship game 15 times.
• Under Anthony Del Prete, Suffolk has not missed a title game. 
• The Rams improved to 49-21 all-time in the GNAC Tourney and 13-2 under Del Prete's guidance. 
• Suffolk and JWU met for the 19th time in the GNAC postseason. The Rams improved to 13-4 versus the Wildcats in the tournament and 38-17 all-time against Johnson & Wales. 
• Pordes set a career-high numbers of strikeouts in the top of the fifth before ending the game with 11 punchouts.
• Chant went yard for the sixth time this season.     

COMING UP
Suffolk will face SJC on Sunday at noon after it eliminated JWU in the third and final game on Saturday. The Monks need two wins to claim the championship. 

Courtesy of SUFFOLK Athletics Communications.

#2 SJC 9, #4 Lasell 5 (First Game Played Saturday)
STANDISH, Maine – #2 Saint Joseph's College (28-12) remained alive in the 2018 GNAC Baseball Tournament with a 9-5 victory over #4 Lasell College (10-21) in an elimination game at Larry Mahaney Diamond on Saturday morning. With the victory, Saint Joseph's survives and advances to play either #1 Suffolk or #3 Johnson & Wales in another elimination game tonight at 5:00 PM. For Lasell, the loss signals the end of the 2018 campaign.  

FIRST GLANCE:

The Monks faced a 4-0 deficit going into the bottom of the fourth, but their bats finally came to life to knot the game with four runs off five hits, including a two-run single from Jared Gagne (Dover, N.H.) and an RBI base hit off the bat of Jacob White (Salem, N.H.). St. Joe's grabbed the lead for good in the sixth, when Chris Gerossie (Chester, N.H.) walked and scored on a Joey Murphy(Derry, N.H.) sac fly and Gagne doubled and sprinted home on an infield miscue.

For good measure, the Monks tacked on three runs off two hits and a Lasell error in the bottom of the eighth.

KEY PLAYS:

• The Lasers claimed the first lead of the day in the top of the second, when Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.) was hit by a pitch and Luke Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) walked and both runners scored on an Evan Michalek (Berlin, Conn.) triple down the right field line
• Lasell doubled the advantage in the top of the fourth, when junior David Marsell (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) plated a pair with a two-run single to right field

ON THE MOUND:

• SJC freshman starter Zach Begin (Georgetown, Mass.) allowed four runs off six hits and three hit batsmen with four K's in four innings
• Junior reliever Grayson Jennings (Mililani, Hawaii) picked up the win and improved to 3-1 after fanning five batters and allowing two hits and no walks in three frames
• Senior closer Josh Partridge (Deerfield, N.H.) earned his fifth save of the year after tossing 1.1 innings with one strikeout
• Lasell freshman starter Sean Doris (Lincoln, R.I.) yielded four runs (three earned) off six hits and three walks with three K's in 3.2 innings
• Junior Justin Webb (San Diego, Calif.) takes the loss after allowing two runs (one earned) off one hit and a walk over two innings
• Patrick Colvin (Lenoxdale, Mass.), Mike Tacinelli (Seymour, Conn.), and Zak Phillips (West Boylston, Mass.) combined to allow three unearned runs off two hits over 2.1 frames of relief

OFF THE BAT – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Gagne was 2-4 with two runs, a double, and two RBI
• White went 2-4 with a run and a pair of RBI
• Sophomore Ben Gravel (Rochester, N.H.) added two hits and scored a run in four at-bats
• Speliotis went 2-4 with a run
• Junior Noah McDaniel (Eliot, Maine) went 1-3 with a double, a steal, and two RBI

OFF THE BAT – LASELL:

• Junior Chris Maringo (Farmingville, N.Y.) was 3-5 with three singles
• Michalek went 2-5 with a two-run triple

Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications.

First Round - Wednesday, May 2 (single elimination)
Game 1: #3 Johnson & Wales 27, #6 Anna Maria 13 | BOX
Game 2: #4 Lasell 16, #5 Norwich 3 | BOX 

Second Round - Thursday, May 3 (double-elim begins)
Game 3: #3 Johnson & Wales 9, #2 Saint Joseph's of Maine 5 | BOX
Game 4: #1 Suffolk 6, #4 Lasell 5 (10 innings) | BOX

Semifinals - Saturday, May 5 (Hosted by Saint Joseph's of Maine)
Game 5: #2 Saint Joseph's of Maine 9, #4 Lasell 5 | BOX (Lasell eliminated)
Game 6: #1 Suffolk 7, #3 Johnson & Wales 6 | BOX
Game 7: #2 Saint Joseph's of Maine 3, #3 Johnson & Wales 2 | BOX (JWU eliminated)

Championship - Sunday, May 6 (Hosted by Saint Joseph's of Maine)
Game 8: #1 Suffolk vs. #2 Saint Joseph's of Maine - 12:00 PM
Game 9: if necessary - 3:30 PM

Founded in 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Each year, the GNAC sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunities and community involvement. 

– #TheGNAC –