New Haven, Conn. – The Albertus Magnus College baseball team suffered a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader sweep to Johnson & Wales on Sunday afternoon at Rochford Field.

Prior to the start of today's doubleheader, the Albertus Magnus College baseball team honored its six-member senior class – Andrew Scully (Stratford, Conn.), Adam Olszyk (Hamden, Conn.), Dan Zarnik (Hamden, Conn.), Tom Moore (East Haven, Conn.), Jon Criscio (East Haven, Conn.) and Dave DeRubeis (Milford, Conn.) – for their hard work on the field and in the classroom.

TEAM RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (8-18, 3-7) | Johnson & Wales (17-14, 7-5)

FINAL SCORE (G1): Johnson & Wales 10 | Albertus Magnus 0

HOW IT HAPPENED

Ryan Cabral staked Johnson & Wales to a 2-0 lead with a two-out, two-run single through the right side in the third inning. The Wildcats added three more runs in the fourth. Rob Ballinger had an RBI-single, Joe Maracik scored on a passed ball and Ballinger dashed home from third base on a sacrifice fly to short right field by Lou Umberto. JWU added single runs in the fifth and sixth inning and capped the scoring with three more in the seventh. Ballinger and Edison Miranda had two hits each for Johnson & Wales.

Brandon Budlong of Johnson & Wales struck out 11 and walked one batter over seven innings on the mound. He retired the first 17 batters he faced until Roberto Garcia (Bridgeport, Conn.) broke up the perfect game bid with a two-out single in the sixth. Matt Warren (Wolcott, Conn.) had a seventh-inning single for the Falcons other hit.

INSIDE THE STATS

• Following the loss in game one, Zarnik falls to 1-4 on the season after pitching 3.1 innings on the mound and allowing five-runs on five hits, but managed to strike out two.
• Jorge Nieves (New Haven, Conn.) and Derwin Nunez (Bridgeport, Conn.) also made appearances on the mound for the Falcons.
• Johnson & Wales finished the game 8-of-26 at the plate as well as recorded eight walks and five strikeouts.

FINAL SCORE (G2): Johnson & Wales 7 | Albertus Magnus 1

HOW IT HAPPENED

Over the first two innings of play, the Wildcats recorded back-to-back single run frames before posting a four-run rally in the top of the third to take the 7-0 lead over the Falcons. 

Albertus Magnus responded back in the bottom of the fifth scoring one-run on two hits to cut the lead to six, 7-1. With one out, Eric Therrien (Bristol, Conn.) drove in the Falcons' first run of the day off a RBI groundout, but the Falcons' threat ended with a strikeout.

INSIDE THE STATS

• Justen Rodriguez (Waterbury, Conn.) paced the Falcons' offense with two hits and a run scored while Scully and Nunez added a hit each.
• At the plate, Johnson & Wales went 11-of-33 with four walks and six strikeouts.
• On the hump, Olszyk earned his second loss of the season as well as recorded three strikeouts over four innings.
• James Smiegocki pitched the complete game for the Wildcats and collected three walks, seven strikeouts and four hits.

UP NEXT

The Falcons return to action next week against Lasell, Western Conn. St. and Rivier.