Myrtle Beach, S.C. - The Albertus Magnus College baseball team kicked off its annual spring break trip with an 18-3 victory over Lehman College on Sunday evening in non-conference play as part of the Ripken Baseball Experience.

THE BASICS
FINAL: Albertus Magnus 18 | Lehman College 3
RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (2-1) | Lehman College (0-7)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Both pitchers started the game strong, as neither team scored through the first two innings. 

Nhasean Murphy (Manchester, Conn.) led off the third inning for the Falcons with a double to left field, before Joseph Matthews (Anaheim, Calif.) was hit by a pitch. A pair of Lightning errors and a single from senior Matt Warren (Wolcott, Conn.) brought in three runs for the Falcons. Sean Jefferson (West Haven, Conn.) followed with a triple, bringing in both Warren and Elijah Spataj (Cheshire, Conn.). Four more hits by Jason Sullivan (Meriden, Conn.), Vincent Gualtieri (Norwich, Conn.), Alex Kozlowski (Shelton, Conn.), and Matthews gave the Falcons an 8-0 lead after three innings. 

Warren continued the Falcon onslaught in the fourth, leading off with a double to right field, before Spataj connected for a two-run homer over the left field fence, pushing the lead to 10-0. 

The fifth inning proved much the same for the Falcons, as Clark led off with a walk and Warren followed with his second double of the day, this one to left field, before Spataj connected for a two-RBI single. The Falcons continued to bat around, before Warren came to the plate again with the bases loaded and connected for his 100th career hit, a two-RBI single, to bring the Falcons' lead to 17-0.   

Tristan Smith (Salem, Conn.) replaced Clark on the mound in the sixth and threw a scoreless inning, striking out three of the four batters he faced for good measure. The Falcons tacked on another run in the sixth when Jefferson tripled over the center fielder's head and Sullivan drove him in with an RBI-groundout.  

Michael Pepe (Cheshire, Conn.) and Alan Stinson (Watertown, Conn.) closed out the game for the Falcons, throwing three solid innings and allowing three runs, none of them earned, to preserve the Falcon victory. Lehman's Jeremmy Santos ripped a two-RBI single in the eighth to end the Lightning drought. 

Brendan Clark (North Haven, Conn.) started on the mound for Albertus and pitched five scoreless innings with six strikeouts for the Falcons.