The Albertus Magnus College Falcons (9-18 overall, 8-6 GNAC) swept a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball double header from the Suffolk University Rams (17-16 overall, 9-5 GNAC) on Friday afternoon.
Quincy, MA - The Albertus Magnus College Falcons swept a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball doubleheader from theSuffolk University Rams on Friday afternoon 5-4 and 6-4.
The Falcons were able to finish both games with wins as senior closer Robert Bengivengo (Oxford, CT/Seymour) escaped trouble ending both games with comebackers to the mound to record his third and fourth saves of the season.
The Falcons took game one in eight innings as junior Malcolm Mendez (New York, NY/East Side Community) doubled in the go ahead run in the eighth for a 5-4 victory.
Suffolk jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and freshman Devan Jones (Roslindale, MA) doubled in the first run of the game with a deep drive to centerfield to plate freshman Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, MA). Senior Mark Annese (Winchester, MA) doubled later in the inning brining in the Rams second run of the game. The Falcons would answer in the visitor's half of the second inning as sophomore Robert Gambardella (North Haven, CT/North Haven) led the inning off with a double. Freshman Jesse Castaldi (North Branford, CT/North Branford) plated the Falcons' first run of the game with a double down the left field line and then came around later to score on a two-out RBI single by junior Jon Almonte (New York, NY/LaSalle Academy).
The Rams added two more runs in the fourth inning as senior Nick Travelyn (Bedford, NH) reached on an infield error to start the inning off. Travelyn would then steal second base and advance to third on the play as the throw escaped the Albertus infield. Cintolo picked up the first of his two RBI on the day with a groundout to short, before senior Andrew Babb (Ashland, MA) drove in Jones with an single.The Falcons would answer once again this time with the big blow coming off the bat of freshman Zak Sokolis (Meriden, CT/Maloney) who connected on a 1-0 pitch for a two-run blast to even the game at four.
After two walks and a hit by pitch to load the bases with Rams in the bottom half of the eight, Bengivengo escaped the game with a one-hopper back to mound.
In game two the Falcons would explode for four runs in the fourth inning as they were able to hang on for a 6-4 victory bringing their record in GNAC play to 8-6. Freshman Patrick Dornfield (Berlin, CT/Northwest Catholic) started the inning off by reaching base on a bunt single before Sokolis struck once again this time with a double. Begivengo would drive home the game's first run with a sacrifice fly to center before Gambardella added an RBI single. With two outs Castaldi and sophomore Matt Caputo (East Haven, CT/East Haven) would connect on back to back doubles to right to highlight the inning.
Bengivengo added another run for the Falcons in the fifth inning with second RBI of the day with a single to right. Suffolk would answer with two of their own in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Junior K.C. McCarthy (Concord, MA) started the inning off with an opposite field double and would come around to score on a single up the middle by Cintolo. Cintolo would continue to run around the bases as the ball got by the Albertus outfield and would come around to score on a double off the bat of Jones. Albertus however would add some insurance in the sixth inning, once again taking advantage of more poor defensive play by the Rams as Gambardella came home score on a botched pick off attempt.
Suffolk would threaten in the bottom of the seventh with Travelyn singling with one out followed by a hit by pitch on McCarthy. With two outs both Jones and Babb would hit consecutive RBI singles bringing the go-ahead run to the plate but Bengivengo would once again make the final play of the day for the Falcons to close off the sweep.
The double header marks the end of the 2011 GNAC regular season for both teams as they now await the rest of the league to finish up their schedule this week. Both teams will enter Tuesday's play-in round against opponents to be determined for a chance to move on to this weekend's double elimination conference championship. The winner of the GNAC Tournament will receive an automatic qualifier bid into the 2011 NCAA Tournament.