STANDISH, Maine - #3 Johnson & Wales University (17-25) defeated top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (31-14), 21-6, to claim the 2022 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Championship at Larry Mahaney Diamond on Sunday afternoon.
With the victory, Johnson & Wales earns the GNAC's automatic qualifier into the NCAA DIII Tournament for the second-consecutive season. The complete national tournament bracket will be announced on the NCAA website next Monday, May 16th.
Coming out of the losers' bracket, Saint Joseph's started 'championship Sunday' needing a pair of wins to claim the conference title and accomplished half of the objective with a 6-2 win in the opener to force the 'if necessary' game. Johnson & Wales came out swinging in the winner-take-all contest however, as the Wildcats scored early and often with 17 hits – including three home runs – in a 21-6 crown-clinching victory.
GAME ONE:
SJC senior starting pitcher Matthew Bergeron (Salem, N.H.) was excellent in the opening triumph and allowed two runs (one earned) on 11 hits with four strikeouts in a nine-inning complete-game performance.
Grad second baseman Drew Healey (Rochester, N.H.) led the SJC offense by going 3-for-4 with two runs, two doubles and an RBI while senior third baseman Ronan Chisholm (North Chatham, Mass.) and sophomore first baseman Luke Stephens (Glastonbury, Conn.) added three hits apiece in the triumph. Freshman right fielder Michael Wearne (Ellington, Conn.) was 2-for-4 with a run and junior catcher Jonathan Dube (Rochester, N.H.) went 1-for-3 with two RBI.
JWU senior starter Dane DellaValle (Howell, N.J.) took the loss and fell to 4-5 on the season after allowing six runs (three earned) on 14 hits with five K's in 8.2 innings.
Four different Wildcats notched two hits in the setback, as Trevor Juan (Bolton, Conn.), Xavier Botelho (Rehoboth, Mass.), Griffin Snyder (Marietta, Ga.) and Riley Hasson (South Portland, Maine) registered repeat-hit performances. Sophomore left fielder Thorin Sanchez-Guerra (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) belted a two-run home run in the losing effort.
GAME TWO:
The Monks held a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the second, as Stephens belted a solo home run and freshman center fielder Cliff Ward (Cohasset, Mass.) walked and scored on a first-and-third double steal play to lift the hosts to an early advantage.
Unfortunately for the Monks, the one-run game quickly turned into a blowout in favor of the Wildcats, who scored 10 runs on seven hits and an SJC error and forced the hosts to use four different pitchers in the bottom of the second.
Botelho extended the JWU lead to 13-2 with a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth and Hasson launched a three-run jack off the scoreboard in left in the sixth to help his team claim a 20-2 cushion.
The Monks scored two runs on doubles from Chisholm and Healy in the seventh and freshman Logan Dee (Laconia, N.H.) plated a pair with a two-run single in the ninth to cap the game scoring.
St. Joe's employed eight different pitchers in the loss with Stephens falling to 2-2 after giving up five runs on five hits in 1.1 innings. Senior Johnny Flynn (Holden, Mass.) struck out five batters in two innings of relief duty.
JWU starter Jake Hernandez (Missouri City, Texas) claimed the win after allowing four runs on seven hits and seven walks with five strikeouts in seven innings. Junior reliever Jack McDonough (Greenville, R.I.) yielded two runs on five hits with two K's in two innings of mop-up duty.
Chisholm was 2-4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI, Stephens belted his first home run of the season, and Dee knocked in two runs in the Monks' season-ending loss.
Offensively for the Wildcats, Sanchez-Guerra was 3-for-6 with three runs, a double, and two RBI, Botelho went 3-for-5 with a run, a double, and two RBI, Juan added two hits, three runs, a homer, and four RBI in six at-bats, Hasson was 2-for-4 with three runs, a home run, and three RBI, and Jack Magane (Walpole, Mass.) went 2-for-4 with two runs, a double, and four RBI.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:
MVP – Riley Hasson, Johnson & Wales
Dane DellaValle, Johnson & Wales
Thorin Sanchez-Guerra, Johnson & Wales
Kyle Cutler, Johnson & Wales
Matt Poff, Saint Joseph's
Matthew Bergeron, Saint Joseph's
Jason Johnson, Saint Joseph's
Kosta Drosidas, Anna Maria
Michael Shorey, Anna Maria
Elms – George Chaya
Elms - Tyler Galenski
