AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Saint Joseph's College (0-1) suffered a 13-0 setback at the hands of Aurora University (2-0) in RussMatt Central Florida Invitational baseball action at the Lake Myrtle Complex on Sunday morning.
SJC graduate starting pitcher Matthew Bergeron (Salem, N.H.) endured a difficult start to the season as the righthander yielded four runs on four hits in the top of the first and six runs on eight hits in the top of the third before giving way to freshman reliever Cam Wodarski (Danvers, Mass.), who registered the final out of the frame on a groundout to short.
A bright spot for the Monks was the collective relief effort posted by Wodarski, Jason Johnson (Thomaston, Conn.), Kyle MacKay (Dracut, Mass.), Brendan McCaffrey (Warwick, R.I.), and Ben Fargo (Charleston, R.I.), who combined to three runs on five hits and a walk with a pair of K's over 4.1 innings of work. Johnson, MacKay, and Fargo tossed scoreless innings in the loss.
The Monks were held to two hits in the opener, as senior catcher Jonathan Dube (Rochester, N.H) was 1-3 with a single and freshman right fielder Terry Morrissey (Andover, Mass.) went 1-2 with a double.
For the Spartans, shortstop Nico Bermeo was 3-5 with a run, third baseman Derek Angelo went 2-2 with three RBI, and first baseman Justin Sartori hit a home run and was 2-5 with two runs and a pair of RBI.
Aurora starter Nick Malmberg tossed seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts. The southpaw was perfect through 3.2 innings before allowing a two-out single to Dube.
Saint Joseph's is back in action tomorrow morning with a nine-inning game versus St. John Fisher. First pitch at Lake Myrtle #1 is scheduled for 9:00 AM.
