STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (8-9) suffered a 7-3 loss at the hands of Clark University (9-4) in a non-conference baseball game at Larry Mahaney Diamond on Wednesday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Cougars struck first in their opening turn at the bat, as grad student Chris Radovic (Fairfield, Conn.) delivered a two-run home run that just barely cleared the left field wall in the top of the first. Clark doubled their lead in the fourth, when junior Ethan Belt (Amesbury, Mass.) notched an RBI double and junior Anthony Keefe (Plymouth, Mass.) scored on an infield error.
With the SJC bats having produced just two hits through the first six inning, the Cougars managed to tack on another run in the top of the seventh, when Radovic greeted junior reliever Anthony Esposito (Orange, Conn.) by launching a solo home run off the scoreboard.
The Monks finally got on the board with a run on three hits in the bottom of the seventh, when grad student Ben Gravel (Rochester, N.H.) led off with a single and later scored on a base hit off the bat of pinch-hitter Jonathan Dube (Rochester, N.H.). Senior center fielder Ryan Tessier (Concord, N.H.) made it a 5-2 game when he hit his first collegiate home run – a solo blast beyond the left field fence – with one out in the top of the eighth.
The Cougars put a halt to the Monks' growing momentum in the top of the ninth, however. With two outs and runners on second and third, Trevor Ham hit a ground ball down the left field line that hit the third base bag and bounced over the outstretched glove of SJC third baseman Ronan Chisholm (North Chatham, Mass.), an unlucky bounce that allowed two runs to score.
Now trailing 7-2, the Monks managed to score a run off two hits in the bottom of the ninth to account for the 7-3 final.
ON THE MOUND:
- SJC senior starter Johnny Flynn (Holden, Mass.) took the loss after yielding four runs (three earned) on three hits and five walks with eight strikeouts over five frames
- St. Joe's relievers Sean McDonough (Concord, N.H.), Esposito, Brian Berthiaume (New Boston, N.H.), Devan Harrison (Pocasset, Mass.), and Matthew Murphy (Plymouth, Mass.) combined to give up three runs on two hits and two walks with one punch-out over four innings
- For Clark, starter Torsten Sloan Anderson (Shelburne Falls, Mass.) picked up the win after giving up a run on five hits with three K's in 6.1 innings; relievers Zachary Gitschier (Lowell, Mass.) and Andres Hulfachor (Nashua, N.H.) combined to allow two runs on four hits with three K's in 2.2 innings of work
OFF THE BAT:
- For the Monks, Chisholm, Dube and Dawson Gundlah (York, Maine) notched two hits apiece
- For the Cougars, Radovic went 2-for-4 with three runs, two homers, and three RBI
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 7-5 all-time versus Clark University.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will play at Norwich University on Saturday in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader slated to start at 1:00 PM.
