NASHUA, N.H. – #3 Suffolk University (16-16, 9-5 GNAC) edged top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (23-13, 12-2 GNAC), 3-2, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Tournament Semifinal contest at Holman Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Senior southpaws Josh Desai (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Dan Meeken (Marshfield, Mass.) locked heads in an old-fashioned pitcher's duel, with the former leading the Rams to victory after allowing two runs (one earned) off five hits and a walk with three strikeouts in a complete-game performance. Meeken nearly equaled his counterpart, yielding three runs (two earned) off five hits with six punch-outs over nine frames, but suffered the loss and falls to 3-3 on the season.
With the setback, Saint Joseph's jumps into the losers' bracket and will face #2 Johnson & Wales University this afternoon at 4:30 PM. The Wildcats fell to Suffolk, 7-5, on Thursday but defeated #4 Lasell College, 7-1, in an elimination game at Holman this morning.
With the victory, Suffolk advances to the GNAC Championship game for the ninth-consecutive season and will face the Saint Joseph's/Johnson & Wales winner at Holman Stadium in a 1:00 PM start tomorrow. As the only undefeated team remaining in the double-elimination tournament, the Rams will have two chances tomorrow to collect their first conference crown since 2009.
Suffolk grabbed an early lead with two runs in the top of the first, when junior catcher John Lapolla (Providence, R.I.) plated freshman Brady Chant (Warwick, R.I.) with a single up the middle and later scored on an infield error. For Meeken, the first-inning runs snapped a 19-inning scoreless streak and were the first he had allowed since April 4th in a win over Albertus Magnus College.
The Rams tacked on another run off a pair of hits in the top of the second, when senior shortstop Adam Johnson (Georgetown, Mass.) singled to right, moved to second on a BJ Neil (Lynnfield, Mass.) sac bunt, and scored on a Chant base hit to right field.
The Monks' offense began to click in the bottom of the third, when the Royal Blue plated a run off two hits, as sophomore shortstop Max McCoomb (South Berwick, Maine) led off with a double to left and eventually scored when junior left fielder Taylor Reuillard (Biddeford, Maine) reached on a fielder's choice to make it a 3-1 contest.
After the third, neither team would record a hit until the bottom of the seventh when St. Joe's scored a run off a pair of base knocks, cutting the deficit to 3-2 in the process. Sophomore right fielder Scott Betts (Peabody, Mass.) reached on an infield error to lead off the inning and eventually came around to score on a McCoomb two-out single to shallow left-center.
The Monks came close to tying the game when the following batter, sophomore second baseman Taylor Black (Cardiff by the Sea, Calif.), singled up the middle and McCoomb was sent home, where he was cut down by a nice throw from Chant, the Rams' center fielder.
As it turned out, the play at the plate proved to be huge, as Saint Joseph's failed to get a runner past first base in the final two innings.
Two Saint Joseph's hitters accounted for all five of the Monks' hits, as Black was 3-4 and McCoomb went 2-3 with a run, a double and an RBI in the losing effort. Senior third baseman Lincoln Sanborn (Standish, Maine) played outstanding defense, with a diving play in the fifth and a handful of difficult plays on choppers to his left in the narrow loss.
Chant led the Rams' offensive effort by going 2-4 with a run and an RBI. Defensively, Johnson made several plus plays in the field and Suffolk left fielder Rob Marks (Revere, Mass.) made a nice diving play on a Joe Coyne (Duxbury, Mass.) line drive in the sixth.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
