Baseball Stays Alive in GNAC Tournament With Split in Pod A Action Saturday

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The fourth-seeded University of Saint Joseph (USJ) baseball team kept its title hopes alive Saturday in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament, bouncing back from a 12-2 mercy-rule loss to top-seeded Johnson & Wales University (JWU) in the winner's bracket game Saturday afternoon with a 16-7 victory over eighth-seeded Colby-Sawyer College (CSC) in an elimination game Saturday night in Pod A play at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletics Complex.

The Blue Jays (25-17) must now defeat Johnson & Wales (25-13) twice on Sunday on the Wildcats' home field to advance to the GNAC Championship Series, which is set to begin Thursday. Colby-Sawyer ended its season at 14-26 overall.

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

HOW IT HAPPENED

• USJ jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of 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.
• The Blue Jays did not put a runner past second base until the top of the seventh, and were unable to drive in any more runs for the remainder of the contest.
• JWU pushed across a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to enact the mercy-rule and end the game, 12-2.

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 a hit.

Game 2: Saint Joseph 16, Colby-Sawyer 7

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Freshman catcher Jack Kushman (Southington, Conn.) got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly in the top of the second inning to bring home sophomore outfielder 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 in the top of the fifth inning after a wild pitch scored Fox, and Gratta drove in Kane with an RBI groundout.
• The Chargers answered though in the bottom of the frame with a two-run single by Janai Cruz to push their lead back up to three, 7-4.
• The Blue Jays responded in the sixth with a pair of runs. Sophomore infielder Tyler Carlstrom (Rocky Hill, Conn.) tripled home Fritz, then scored on a safety squeeze by Kushman to make it 7-6.
• Freshman right-hander Ozzie Weber (Manchester, Vt.) came on in relief and tossed a scoreless sixth, and then the USJ offense exploded in the top of the seventh.
• Junior outfielder Ryan Quinn (Middletown, Conn.) gave USJ the lead for good with a two-run double. Fritz, senior infielder Ryan Shaw (Ellington, Conn.), Kushman, Kane, and Scalia all added RBIs in a nine-run seventh inning that saw USJ take a commanding 15-7 lead.
• USJ tacked on an extra run in the top of the eighth via another RBI sacrifice fly by Kushman to account for the 16-7 final margin of victory.

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-5 with three RBIs, his ninth multi-RBI game of the year.
• Kane finished 3-for-5 with a game-high four runs scored.
• Eight different Blue Jays had at least one hit.
• Weber (3-1) earned the win, tossing 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

Baseball will face Johnson & Wales at noon Sunday in the Pod A finals at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex in Providence, R.I. If USJ wins, the two teams will meet again later in the afternoon in a winner-take-all game. The winner advances to the GNAC Championship Series.

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