Hamden, Conn. – The Albertus Magnus College baseball team lost both ends of a non-conference doubleheader against in-state foe Mitchell on Wednesday afternoon at Rochford Field. In cold and windy conditions, the Mariners took game one, 4-1, in extra innings and blanked the Falcons, 5-0, in the finale.
With the two setbacks, Albertus Magnus enters conference play this weekend with a 6-10 overall record, while Mitchell won their fourth game in a row to improve to 15-3 on the spring.
In game one, Mitchell took advantage of a pair of Falcon miscues to score three runs in the top of the 10th en route to a 4-1 extra-inning victory. In the frame, sophomore Kyle Hartenstein lined a single to left field off Falcon reliever Tom Moore (East Haven, Conn.) to break a 1-1 tie. Later in the stanza, the guests would add a pair of insurance runs on a wild pitch and an Albertus throwing error.
Moore was saddled with the loss after working two innings of relief. On the opposite side, Domenick Giaraida picked up his second win of the year thanks to tossing two scoreless innings of relief. AMC freshman hurler Malachi Emond (Coventry, Conn.) got the start and threw four scoreless innings of one-hit ball. Emond fanned five and surrendered just one walk. Also pitching in the contest for the hosts was junior Christopher Rivera (New Britain, Conn.). Rivera allowed one unearned run and struck out three hitters in three and one third innings.
Albertus Magnus pushed across the first run of the game in the bottom of the second courtesy of an RBI double to deep left field by senior catcher Mike Saia (Bridgeport, Conn.). Three innings later, the Mariners knotted the tilt at one with a sac fly to left field that brought Chandler Whitney racing home to score an unearned run.
In the second contest, A trio of Mitchell pitchers held the hosts scoreless and scattered five hits on the way to a sweep and 5-0 triumph.
Offensively, timely hitting helped the Mariners as the guests took advantage of three AMC errors.
In relief, Albertus Magnus junior Jon Criscio (East Haven, Conn.) was the tough-luck loser, working two innings and surrendering three unearned runs. Classmate Michael Terzi (Wallingford, Conn.) got the start for the Falcons and tossed four shutout innings of a one-hit ball.
For the Mariners, Tyler Shamas pitched two innings of scoreless relief to earn his first victory of the spring.
Albertus Magnus returns to action on Saturday, April 9, with a road Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader versus Lasell that gets underway at noon. Last season, the Falcons and Lasers split a doubleheader in West Haven.
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