HAMDEN, Conn. - The Albertus Magnus College baseball team defeated the Raiders of Rivier University in a convincing fashion on Thursday afternoon at Rochford Field, winning the first game of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader by a final score of 16-2, before taking the nightcap by a final score of 15-6. 

Sean Jefferson (West Haven, Conn.), Matt Lewczyk (Windsor, Conn.), and Matt Warren (Wolcott, Conn.) led the way for the Falcons at the plate, collecting five hits apiece over the doubleheader. Over the course of the doubleheader, Jefferson whacked a double, a triple, and two home runs, while Lewczyk connected for five singles, and recorded four RBIs. Warren finished the afternoon with a home run, four singles, and three RBIs. 

The Falcons' 16-run outburst in the opening game was a season-high for the blue-and-white, while their 31 runs over the two games was also a season-high. 

THE BASICS
FINAL (G1): Albertus Magnus 16 | Rivier 2
FINAL (G2): Albertus Magnus 15 | Rivier 6  
RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (4-17, 4-6 GNAC) | Rivier (1-22, 0-10 GNAC)
LOCATION: Rochford Field

HOW IT HAPPENED-GAME 1 

The bats came alive for the Falcons in the bottom of the first as the hosts scored an impressive 10 runs off of seven hits to take the commanding lead over the Raiders. The inning was highlighted by a grand slam from Shawn Smith (Shelton, Conn.), a two-run homer from Bobby Arent (Ridgefield, Conn.), and a solo shot to left-center from Warren. 

Rivier countered the Falcons' 10-run inning with a solo run in the top of the second following a two-out, RBI double from Timothy Scott to make the score 10-1. 

Albertus kept its offensive momentum going in the bottom half of the inning as Jefferson kicked off the at-bat with a home run to right-center before singles from Yandy James (Paterson, N.J.) and Nhasean Murphy (Manchester, Conn.) put two runners on for Lewczyk, who drove in James for the second run of the inning with a single into right-center field. Arent fed off the single from Lewczyk by recording his first double of the game and advancing Murphy home for the final run of the frame to give the blue-and-white the 13-1 lead after two innings. 

The blue-and-white continued to tack on the runs in the bottom of the third, scoring an additional two tallies to bring the score to 15-1. During the inning, Jefferson tallied his second home run of the day, while Lewczyk posted his third RBI of game one.

Rivier managed to breakthrough in the top of the fifth by scoring its second run of the day following a one-out single from Patrick Young, but Falcons' starter Ike Flannery (Wethersfield, Conn.) induced a fly-out to right and a strikeout to neutralize the threat.  

After leaving two runners on base in the bottom of the fifth, Albertus made up for it in the sixth scoring one run off an RBI single from James to push the score to 16-2. 

The Raiders were unable to mount any sort of comeback in the final frame, as Flannery set the visitors down in order to secure the game 1 victory. 

TOP PERFORMERS

• WP: Ike Flannery (W, 2-1) - 7.0  Innings | 5 Hits | 2 Runs | 0 Walks | 8 Strikeouts 
• LP: Michael Overlan (L, 0-4) -  0.2 Innings | 7 Hits |  0 Runs | 3 Walks | 1 Strikeout 
• Flannery tied his season-high in strikeouts with eight, while also setting a career-high in strikeouts by notching his 23rd.  
• Flannery has thrown back-to-back complete games over his last two starts, and has pitched to the tune of a 2.50 earned run average.    
• Lewczyk finished game one with a team-leading four hits to go along with three RBI and two runs scored.
• Smith led the Falcons in RBIs with a season-high of four.
• Along with Lewczyk, Arent tallied a season-high three RBIs, as well as posted three hits and two runs scored.
• Lewczyk's four-hit performance in game one was a season-high for the second baseman.

HOW IT HAPPENED-GAME 2 

Albertus struck first, similar to game one, scoring a quick three runs in the opening inning to take the early lead over the Raiders. With one out and a runner on second, following a failed pickoff attempt, Warren allowed Lewczyk to score before Warren found himself on second after Sullivan forced a walk. Jefferson kept his hitting streak going with an RBI single to center field that drove in Warren while allowing Sullivan to advance to third. Despite a line out to right field by Arent, Sullivan was able to tag up on the play for the third and final run of the inning.

Following a quick at-bat for the Raiders, Albertus resumed its offensive attack as Losacano tallied his first home run of the season after hitting a ball over the left-field fence that allowed Lewczyk, Anthony Broadhurst (Stratford, Conn.), and himself to score, giving the Falcons a six-run cushion, 6-0, at the end of the second.

In the top of the third, Rivier broke its scoreless drought and cut the deficit to five, 6-1, after an RBI single from Timothy Scott drove in the runner from third, who started off the rally with a two-out, single to third.

Rivier continued to battle against Falcon's starter Alex Kozlowski (Shelton, Conn.) as the Raiders took advantage of the right-hander by scoring three runs off five hits, forcing Coach Leighton to call a pitching change, with one out on the scoreboard. Senior Alan Stinson (Watertown, Conn.) came in for relief for Kozlowski and helped the Falcons get the final two outs needed to end the Raiders' game-leading threat.

After back-to-back scoreless innings, Albertus managed to put four runs up on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth to push its lead back up to six, 10-4. The Falcons recorded an RBI single from Lewczyk, back-to-back sacrifice flies from Warren and Sullivan, and an RBI double from Jefferson. 

Albertus recorded yet another big inning at the plate as the Falcons scored five runs off five hits to take a commanding 15-4 lead over the Raiders. With two outs and runners on the corners, Losacano ripped a single into left field to score both runners. Warren and Sullivan both followed with their own singles to score Losacano and put runners on the corners yet again for the Falcons. A Jefferson triple scored both Warren and Sullivan, before Raiders' hurler Brandon Kelly got a strikeout to end the inning. 

The Raiders scored two runs off of Falcons' reliever Caden Cloutier (Wallingford, Conn.) in the top of the seventh, but were unable to trim the deficit before Cloutier induced a trio of ground ball outs to secure the Falcons' victory.

TOP PERFORMERS

• WP: Alex Kozlowski (W, 1-0) - 4.1 Innings | 9 Hits | 4 Runs | 0 Walks | 3 Strikeouts 
• LP: John Jepson (L, 0-2) - 1.1 Innings | 4 Hits | 6 Runs | 4 Walks | 2 Strikeouts 
• Losacano led the Falcons with a season-high five RBIs. 
• Jefferson had a single, a double, and a triple in game two, while also working a walk and driving in four RBIs.  
• Warren had a season-high three hits in game two, while also tying his season-high with two RBIs. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Albertus is now 37-9 all-time against Rivier. 
• The 16-run performance in game one was a season-high for the Falcons. 
• The five home runs for the Falcons in game one were a season-high for the Falcons. 
• Lewczyk is currently on a six-game hitting streak.  
• The doubleheader sweep is the first for the Falcons in 2022.

UP NEXT
The Falcons will travel to Norwich University tomorrow, Friday, April 15th, for a road doubleheader showdown with the Cadets. Game one is set for 1 PM, while Game two will begin at 3:30 PM.