Baseball Drops Non-Conference Clash at Coast Guard

Photo by: Zaida Velazco
Photo by: Zaida Velazco

New London, Conn. – The Albertus Magnus College baseball team lost on the road to in-state rival Coast Guard, 13-3, on Wednesday afternoon in windy conditions at Nitchman Field. With the setback, the Falcons move to 6-8 on the spring, while the Bears bounced back from a loss yesterday to improve to 8-11 overall.

Coast Guard erased an early two-run deficit with three runs in the home half of the fourth and blew the game open with five runs in the bottom of the fifth.

A quintet of pitchers took the mound for the guests with junior starter Christopher Rivera (New Britain, Conn.) working the first three innings on a strict pitch count. Rivera scattered two hits, fanned two hitters and allowed one earned run while getting a no-decision. Falcon reliever Jon Criscio (East Haven, Conn.) was saddled with the loss after tossing one plus innings and surrendering six runs (just three earned).

On the opposite side, reliever Dustin Reeder worked two scoreless innings to earn his first win of the year. After AMC erupted for three runs in the top of the fourth, four Coast Guard pitchers combined to keep the guests off the board for the remainder of the contest.

The hosts opened the scoring in the third courtesy of an RBI ground out to shortstop from Mark Behne that scored Luke Thompson. Thompson jump started the inning with a single up the middle and later stole second before advancing to third on a wild pitch.

In the following frame, Albertus Magnus took advantage of three Bear miscues to plate three runs and take a 3-1 lead. During the stanza, senior outfielder Ted Gravel (Morris, Conn.) lined an RBI single to right center and freshman shortstop Mike Browne (New Fairfield, Conn.) brought a run home with a fielder's choice to his counterpart. The Falcons capped their scoring in the inning and the game as Browne came around to score on an error with two outs.

Coast Guard answered back with a three-run spurt in the bottom half of the inning to take back the lead for good. In the inning, Christian Toscano singled to left center to bring a run home and with two outs Thompson hit a two-run single up the middle.

After holding AMC scoreless in the top of the fifth, Coast Guard took advantage of four Falcon errors to score five runs in the bottom half. All five of the runs were unearned as Albertus Magnus reliever Tom Moore (East Haven, Conn.) was able to get out of a jam by forcing a ground out.

The Bears would later go on to add two insurance runs in both the sixth and eighth innings.

Gravel paced the Falcon attack at the dish, accounting for three of the team's six hits.

Albertus Magnus returns to action on Saturday, April 2, with a road Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader at Johnson & Wales that gets underway at 1:00 pm.

For the latest information on the baseball team and Albertus Magnus athletics, follow AMCAthletics on Twitter and visit AlbertusFalcons.com.