NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Albertus Magnus baseball team split a GNAC doubleheader with Rivier University on Monday afternoon at Rochford Field.

After a last minute time change to beat out the rainy weather, the Falcons secured the win in game one with a final score of 9-4, but fell in game two to the Raiders, 7-5. Shawn Smith (Shelton, Conn.) led the Falcons with a home run in each game, going 2-for-3 in game one and 2-for-4 in game two, with six total RBI. 

THE BASICS
GAME 1 FINAL: Albertus Magnus 9 | Rivier 4
GAME 2 FINAL: Rivier 7 | Albertus Magnus 5
RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (5-7, 1-1 GNAC) | Rivier (4-11, 1-1 GNAC)
BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2

KEY HIGHLIGHTS - Game 1 

• Albertus came out of the gate scoring three runs in the top of the first inning to take the early lead. After Anthony Broadhurst (Stratford, Conn.) walked, Sean Jefferson (West Haven, Conn.) singled to right field before the duo advanced to second and third base when Jason Sullivan (Meriden, Conn.) flied out. S. Smith came in clutch for the Falcons when the sophomore infielder homered to right field to clear the bases and give the Falcons the 3-0 advantage. 
• Rookie hurler Justin Marks (Beacon Falls, Conn.) shut the Raiders down in the bottom of the first inning, striking out the side with a pair of looking strikeouts and a swinging strikeout to send the teams into the second inning. 
• The Falcons tallied an unearned run in the top of the second inning to expand their lead to 4-0. King Rivera (Bridgeport, Conn.) reached on a fielding error, before stealing second. A hit by pitch to Ron Losacano (Old Lyme, Conn.) and an infield single from Anthony Broadhurst (Stratford, Conn.) loaded the bases, before Jefferson walked to score another run and give the Falcons the 4-0 advantage. 
• Marks slammed the door on the Raiders in the second inning, following up his first frame with another scoreless inning, notching a pair of punchouts to bring his strikeout total to five after two innings of work.   
• Rivier rose into action in the bottom of the third inning with three runs to cut the deficit to one, 4-3. Dylan Aliberti and Patrick Young each recorded a RBI.
• Albertus immediately responded in the top of the fourth inning with three runs to increase the Falcon lead by four, 7-3. Loasacano got things started with a one-out double into the right-center field gap. A two-out single to right field from Jefferson scored Losacano from third base. Sullivan followed up with a single into left field, before Jefferson and Sullivan pulled off the double steal. A throwing error from the Raiders' catcher scored Jefferson and set the stage for S. Smith. 
• S. Smith didn't disappoint, driving a single up the middle to score Sullivan from second base. A walk to Anthony Abate (Naugutuck, Conn.) and a hit by pitch to Nick Ramos (Mineola, N.Y.) loaded the bases for the Falcons, but the hosts were unable to drive in another run before the third out.
• The Raiders went down in order in the fourth inning, as Marks hurled a 1-2-3 inning, with a pair of swinging strikeouts. 
• After a quiet fifth inning that saw Marks deliver another scoreless frame with a punchout, the Raiders finally broke through with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Owen Medlock got to first on a shortstop fielding error, advancing Frank Gulezian to third base and Zachary White on second. Gulezian was able to steal home plate to trim the Raider's deficit to 7-4. 
• The Falcons scored two additional runs in the top of the seventh to take a 9-4 lead. With one out, Abate drove a double into left field and came around to score when Rivera smashed a RBI single back up the middle. A single from Arent put two on with one out, before Losacano reached on a fielding error to load the bases. Broadhurst stepped to the plate and lifted a deep fly ball to center field that scored Rivera to increase the Falcons lead to 9-4.  
• The Raiders were unable to score in the bottom of the seventh inning, as senior hurler Tristan Smith (Salem, Conn.) closed out the game for the Falcons with a scoreless seventh inning, giving Albertus' the conference victory with a 9-4 scoreline.   

IN THE CIRCLE
WP: Justin Marks (W, 3-1) | 5.2 IP | 4 H | 4 R | 3 ER | 2 BB | 10 SO
LP: Wesley Martinez (L, 1-2) | 4.0 IP | 7 H | 7 R | 5 ER | 3 BB | 5 SO | 1 HR

AT THE PLATE

• Shawn Smith led the Falcons going 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a home run.
• Sean Jefferson also went 2-for-3 at the plate, with two RBIs and two runs.
• Six Falcons also registered a hit: Losacano, Broadhurst, Sullivan, Abate, Rivera, and Arent.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS - Game 2

• Rivier took the early lead with one run in the bottom of the second inning. Luis Tejada produced a sacrifice fly to send Medlock home and give Rivier the 1-0 advantage.  
• The Raiders doubled their lead in the bottom of the third inning to go up 2-0 against the Falcons. With runners on first and second base, Young reached first base off a throwing error by the Falcons' shortstop, driving in a run from Jacob Boudreau.
• After a scoreless fourth inning, the Raiders scored their third run when Young tripled to center field for an RBI.
• The Falcons' offense was unable to tally a run against Raiders' starter Nate Bonacorsi, being held scoreless over the first five frames. 
• The Albertus offense came alive in the top of the sixth inning, as Sullivan worked a walk and S. Smith sent him home with a blast over the right field wall for two RBIs. 
• Rivier responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning, 4-2. With runners on the corners, Boudreau reached first on a fielder's choice allowing Zak Justice to score from third.
• In the top of the seventh, Losacano led off the inning with a long double over the center fielder's head. Losacano advanced to third on a groundout and came around to score when Jefferson singled into right field.  
• The Rivier baseball team continued to score when they produced three runs in the seventh inning, 7-3. 
• Down by four in the top of the eighth inning, AMC went to work, driving in two runs to cut the deficit to two, 7-5. With one out, Rivera singled and moved to third when Arent doubled down the left field line. A Losacano single scored Rivera, before Broadhurst walked to laod the bases. Jefferson hit into a fielder's choice that cut the run down at the plate for the second out. An infield single from Sullivan scored another run and cut AMC's deficit to two, 7-5, before Rivier induced a flyout to snuff out the Falcon's rally. 
• Rivier was uanble to score in the bottom of the eighth, and the teams moved to the final inning, with Albertrus trailing by two. 
• Despite a one-out single from Abate, the Falcons were unable to secure the comeback, and fell to the Raiders by a final score of 7-5.  

IN THE CIRCLE
WP: Nate Bonacorsi (W, 1-0) | 5.0 IP | 3 H | 2 R | 2 ER | 4 BB | 6 SO | 1 HR
LP: Christian Corliss (Burlington, Conn.) (L, 1-1) | 5.2 IP | 4 H | 4 R | 3 ER | 3 BB | 2 SO

AT THE PLATE

• S. Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and one run. He scored his second home run of the day in game two, for a season total of three and a career total of eight.
• Losacano and Ramos each went 2-for-4 from the plate, with Losacano driving in one run and scoring two.
• There were four additional Falcons with one hit apiece: Jefferson, Abate, Rivera and Arent.

NOTEWORTHY

• With today's split, Albertus is now 38-10 all-time against Rivier.
• Jefferson is on a hitting streak of 12 games, while S. Smith has had a hit in the past five.
• Marks picked up his third straight win.
• Marks also set a season-high in strikeouts with ten during game one of the twinbill.

UP NEXT
The Falcons return to action on Wednesday, March 29 as they face Sage College at Rochford Field. Game one of the doubleheader begins at 4 p.m., with the latter commencing at 6:30 p.m.