WINTERHAVEN, FL - Skidmore College won both ends of a doubleheader, 9-8 and 13-5, to earn a sweep over Saint Joseph's (2-5) on Thursday. Eric LaBatte '11 (Rochester, NH) was 2-4 with four RBI's and Pat Moran '10 (Winterport, ME) went 2-4 in the game one setback. In game two, right-hander Kevin Chamberlain '11 (Scarborough, ME) took the loss in his first collegiate start, allowing three earned runs while fanning two in four innings of work.

GAME ONE

The Monks spotted the Thoroughbreds a 7-1 lead in the first game of the twinbill before battling back with three runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to take an 8-7 lead.

Skidmore third baseman John Anderson '12 (Jamaica Plain, MA) made a pair of errors in the top of the first, allowing St. Joe's to gain a 1-0 lead without recording a hit. SJC catcher Ian Lee '11 (Hampden, ME) tallied the Monks' run.

Righty Shawn Hall '10 (West Newfield, ME), making his first start on the hill for St. Joe's, allowed two runs with two out in the bottom of the inning. Jake Mendell '10 (St. George, VT) rapped a single up the middle to send home both of the Thoroughbreds' runs.

Center fielder Rob Rubenstein '11 (Highland Park, NJ) provided the scoring punch in the second inning with a two-out triple over LaBatte's head in left and Skidmore tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the third to take a 7-1 lead. Hall plunked consecutive batters to open the frame and was replaced on the mound by Chris Nanof '10 (Clinton, MA) after an Anthony Ferri '10 (Jersey City, NJ) groundout to first advanced the runners to second and third. Mike Jaffe '10 (Wynnewood, PA) promptly scored on a passed ball, Mendell was plated on a sacrifice fly by Brian Lowry '12 (West Hartford, CT) and Skidmore starting pitcher Ed Reilly '09 (Tenafly, NJ) helped his cause with an inside the park home run off Nanof.

St. Joe's chipped away at the deficit with three runs in the top of the fourth. Right fielder Todd Keneborus '11 (Hollis Center, ME) was hit by a Reilly breaking ball and advanced to third when Moran smacked a double, his fourth of the year, to left. LaBatte followed with a double to the left-center gap to send both Keneborus and Moran across the plate and later scored on a Mike Burdin '10 (Gardiner, ME) single.

Nanof sailed through the bottom of the fourth, fanning a pair of batters to hold the Thoroughbreds in line. The SJC offense returned the favor by scoring four runs off four hits and a pair of Skidmore miscues to take an 8-7 lead. Chris Campbell '11 (Rochester, NH) reached on a throwing error, was awarded second base, and scored on a Lee base knock. Lee moved up to second and later scored on a Keneborus single. Grant-Roy, who reached via base on balls, and Keneborus both scored when LaBatte welcomed Skidmore reliever Tom Gruber '09 (Cape Elizabeth, ME) with a sharply hit single down the left field line. After Justin Frechette '12 (Oxford Hills, ME) reached first on a misplayed sac bunt bid to juice the bases with nobody out, Gruber settled in to retire three straight SJC hitters, the final two via strikeout.

With Jaffe stood on third with one out, Skidmore nearly tied the contest in the bottom of the fifth. Third baseman Peter Allain '12 (Salem, NH) made an excellent play on a hard hit grounder by Ferri and threw out Jaffe, who took off on contact, at the plate to preserve the Monks' lead.

Reilly greeted Nanof with a double to open the bottom of the sixth and Gruber, after an extended battle in the box, lined a ball over SJC shortstop Mike Burdin for a single to move Reilly to third. Goldman managed to loft a fly to left off reliever Chris Dion '11 (Lawrence, MA), sending home Reilly to knot the game at eight apiece.

Skidmore skipper Ron Plourde summoned reliever Nick Laracuente '11 (Tenafly, NJ) to the hill for the seventh, and rewarded his coach with a 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom of the inning, Mark Vito '10 (Needham, MA) scored the winning run on a two-out single by Lowry, which fell just short of the reach of Keneborus in right.

Dion suffered his first loss of the season in relief, while Gruber picked up the win for Skidmore.

GAME TWO

The nightcap contest opened with two scoreless innings, with Chamberlain allowing two hits and recording a pair of strikeouts. Unfortunately for the sophomore righty, his fate was sealed by a porous Monks' defense in his first start. The Thoroughbreds took advantage of three SJC errors in the third and fourth innings to gain a 6-0 lead, with all the runs being unearned.

Skidmore starter Trevor Brucato '11 (Stamford, CT) did not allow a St. Joe's runner to reach until Campbell lined a single to right with one out in the bottom of the fourth. The sophomore kept the number of batters he faced through four innings to a minimum, however, by forcing the next Monks batter, Lee, to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.

The Thoroughbreds chased Chamberlain with three straight singles in the fifth, forcing Head Coach Will Sanborn to tap righty Curtis Orlik '12 (Brimfield, MA) from the pen. The freshman allowed both inherited runners to score on a single and sac fly and Jeremy Goldman '10 (Moraga, CA) laced an RBI double to right-center to cap the inning scoring with Skidmore firmly in the lead, 10-0.

Craig Woodbrey '10 (Gorham, ME) and Travis Adams '10 (Saco, ME) both registered run-scoring singles in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 10-2, but any hope of a comeback was dashed when the Thoroughbreds, with the help of an inside the park blast from Mendell, countered with a pair of runs in their next turn at bat.

With the score out of reach, several players came off the bench for Saint Joseph's to provide some offense in the late innings. Dan Brown '12 (Portland, ME/Deering) singled through the left side and later scored on a balk and Allain sent home Steve Gorsun '09 (South Berwick, ME) with a sac fly to center in the sixth inning. The teams swapped runs in the seventh, as Monks outfielder Nick Lemieux '12 (Thomaston, ME) reached on an error and scored on Justin Young's '12 (Sanford, ME) first collegiate hit.

Saint Joseph's continues its southern swing with a nine inning game against St. Joseph's (NY) on Friday at 2:30 PM and will wrap up the trip with another nine inning contest against SUNY-Cobleskill on Saturday at 9:15 AM.