The Albertus Magnus baseball team swept the Norwich Cadets in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader on Saturday to finish 7-7 in the league standings and to earn a spot in the GNAC Tournament as the fifth seed. The Falcons won game one 8-2 then took game two 7-4.
Albertus (14-13 overall, 7-7 GNAC) will now head to No. 4 Johnson & Wales (R.I.) on Tuesday to take on the Wildcats in the first round of the GNAC Tournament. The winner will then head to Boston on Thursday to take on top-seeded Suffolk.
Game One:
Norwich took a 1-0 lead in the second inning before adding to its lead in the third on a Bill Whaley RBI single.
Albertus battled back, cutting the Cadet lead to one in the fourth inning as Jordan Kubilus (Cheshire, Conn.) connected on an RBI single. Mike Saia (Bridgeport, Conn.) followed with a bases-clearing double to give the Falcons a 4-2 lead.
Albertus added four more runs in the seventh inning to secure the league victory. Senior Zak Sokolis (Meriden, Conn.) registered an RBI double in the frame, while Kubilus knocked in another run on a fielder's choice play. Saia and Justin Poirier (Meriden, Conn.) added RBI singles for the Falcons to extend their lead to 8-2.
Mike Barillaro (Meriden, Conn.) earned the victory on the hill for Albertus as he went the distance to improve to 3-2 on the year with the win. He allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and struck out a season-high 10 batters.
Jacob Muetterties took the loss to fall to 1-4 on the year. He gave up four runs on six hits in 4.1 innings of work.
Game Two:
Albertus scored four runs in the third inning en route to a game two 7-4 victory. Jack Pritchard (Orange, Conn.) went 2-for-4 with three RBI to lead Albertus to victory. Anthony Pellegrino (Branford, Conn.) added one run, an RBI, and two runs scored.
Norwich scored first with two runs in the first inning before Albertus took the 4-2 lead.
In the third, the Falcons tied the game at two on back-to-back RBI doubles by Nick Sedia (Bronx, N.Y.) and Patrick Dornfried (Berlin, Conn.). Pellegrino and Pritchard added RBI singles in the inning to give Albertus the lead.
Norwich got one run back on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning and then tied the game on a fielder's choice. The Falcons took the lead for good on a two-run home run by Pritchard in the fifth inning. Saia added an RBI single in the sixth for the Falcons to go ahead 7-4.
Brian Levchuk threw all seven innings for the Falcons as he allowed four runs on four hits. He struck out six batters to improve to 2-3 on the year.
Brandon Place took the loss for Norwich to fall to 1-3 on the year.