FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

#3 Johnson & Wales 9, #2 Saint Joseph's of Maine 5
STANDISH, Maine – Hot bats have carried the Johnson & Wales University baseball team through the first two games of the GNAC Tournament. The Wildcats advanced in the winner's bracket with a 9-5 win at Saint Joseph's College on Thursday.

Records:
Saint Joseph's: 27-12
Johnson & Wales: 24-16

Statistical Leaders:
Colby Greenhalgh: 3-5, 1 R, 3 RBI
Joe Maracic: 2-5, 2 R, 1 RBI
Rob Ballinger: 1-3, 2 R

Of Note:
Over the last three games, the Wildcats have scored 51 runs. JWU's 24 wins are the most since the 2014 team won a program-best 29 games.

Up until the ninth inning, JWU starter Keith Grant was in complete control. He gave up four runs on nine hits with six strikeouts for his league-leading ninth win of the year that also breaks the JWU single-season record.

An error by the hosts allowed the Wildcats to score twice in the second inning. Joe Maracic scored Colby Greenhalgh with a single then crossed the plate himself on a Rich Bourdeau single.

A Vin Almalfitano ground out and Greenhalgh single scored Bourdeau and Rob Ballinger to push the JWU lead to 4-0 after five innings.

Greenhalgh came through again in the sixth and seventh innings. He scored Ballinger with another single in the sixth then his two-run double plated Raimiel Rodriguez and Amalfitano to give JWU an 8-0 advantage.

Up Next:
Johnson & Wales moves on to face the winner of the Suffolk-Lasell game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The remainder of the tournament will be played on the SJC campus.

Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications. 

#1 Suffolk 6, #4 Lasell 5 (10 innings)
EAST BOSTON – Brady Chant hit a game-tying single in the ninth and Blasé Cormier scored on an error in the 10th to give the top-seeded Suffolk baseball team a 6-5 victory of fourth-seeded Lasell under the lights at East Boston Memorial Park Thursday afternoon.  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Multiple mistakes by Suffolk allowed Lasell to gain an early 4-0 lead. The Lasers got on the board with one run in the third before three errors by the Rams's second baseman allowed the visitors to put up three in the fifth to make it a four-run gap.  

Suffolk looked to make up ground and did so in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Will Hopkins got the offense going with a double to left field and moved over on Seth Coiley's single to short. Greg Speliotis brought Hopkins in on a single through the left side and placed Coiley on second to set up Cormier's RBI single to right center. Speliotis moved up two bags on Cormier's base hit and cut the deficit to one on a sac fly by Tim Brigham.  

Another error plagued Suffolk in the top of the eighth to put two runs between the Rams and Lasers.  

The Rams did not take advantage of a pair of base runners on walks in the eighth and kept Lasell at bay in the top of the ninth to set-up the thriller. Pinch hitter Trevor Lee walked and was replaced on the bag by Zach Grogan, who was pushed over thanks to Nik San Antiono's single. The Rams' both moved over on a passed ball and a 63 ground out by Rich Gilbride made it a one-run game once again. Suffolk's lead-off hitter Chant faced one out and a 2-and-2 count before he knocked a base hit to center field to bring the go-ahead run. With a chance to walk-off in regulation, Hopkins flew out and Chant stole second before Coiley drew a base on balls. Designated hitter Speliotis worked a long at bat, but was sat down swinging to send the playoff contest into extras.  

Jake Flax retired the side with a pair of strikeouts in the 10th to keep it a tied ball game. Lasell's shortstop Sean Doris moved to the hill to take over and walked his first batter faced, Cormier. Brigham laid down a base to the third base side to advance Cormier to second before Shane Lake and San Antonio each walked to fill the bags. Justin Webb came out of the pen to take over for Doris, but the game would be decided in the next batter. Gilbride sent a one hopper to third base where Andre Marchesseault was there for Lasell, but an over throw to Rob Cutone at the plate let Cormier slide successfully home for the winning run.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Flax earned his first win of the season after throwing 2.2 innings of scoreless relief with one hit and three strikeouts. 
• Kevin Sinatra worked the first 7.1 frames on the hill for Suffolk, allowing five runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts. 
• Doris recorded the setback after giving up the winning run on three walks. 
• Zach Handzel started things off for the Lasers and limited the Rams to three runs on six hits and sat down three batters over 5.1 innings.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• San Antonio was the only Rams to registered multiple hits with the rookie tallying two to go with one run scored. 
• Speliotis and Cormier both had one hit, one RBI and one run scored.
• Chant and Gilbride each notched one hit and one RBI. 
• Hopkins and Coiley had one hit and one run to their credit apiece.  

NOTEWORTHY

• The Rams needed extra time to decide a winner for the fourth time this season. Suffolk is 3-1 in extra-inning affairs in 2018. 
• For the first time since the 2016 championships, Suffolk went into extra-innings in the GNAC Tournament. Suffolk has never lost a GNAC post-season game that needed extra time to finish, improving to 4-0 after tonight's walk-off win.  
• Out of the quarterfinals, Suffolk advances into the winner's bracket GNAC Semifinals for the seventh consecutive season and 12th-time overall. 
• Suffolk improved to 12-2 in the GNAC Tournament under Anthony Del Prete. 
• The Rams are now 48-21 all-time in the GNAC Post-Season. 
• Suffolk won its ninth consecutive contest versus Lasell to move to 25-1 all-time versus the Lasers. 
• Flax's win is the RHP's first since a 7-4 win over Saint Joseph's (Maine) April 18, 2015.  
• San Antonio matched a career-high two hits.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
With the win, Suffolk will face third-seeded Johnson & Wales, who upset second-seed Saint Joseph's (Maine), 9-5, earlier tonight, in the GNAC Semifinals Saturday, May 5 at 1:30 p.m. The Monks and Lasers will meet in the elimination game at 10:00 a.m.

Courtesy of SUFFOLK Athletics Communications.

First Round - Wednesday, May 2 (single elimination)
Game 1: #3 Johnson & Wales 27, #6 Anna Maria 13 | BOX
Game 2: #4 Lasell 16, #5 Norwich 3 | BOX 

Second Round - Thursday, May 3 (double-elim begins)
Game 3: #3 Johnson & Wales 9, #2 Saint Joseph's of Maine 5 | BOX
Game 4: #1 Suffolk 6, #4 Lasell 5 (10 innings) | BOX

Semifinals - Saturday, May 5 (Hosted by Saint Joseph's of Maine)
Game 5: #4 Lasell vs. #2 Saint Joseph's of Maine (elimination game) - 10:00 AM
Game 6: #3 Johnson & Wales vs. #1 Suffolk - 1:30 PM
Game 7: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser (elimination game) - 5:00 PM

Championship - Sunday, May 6 (Hosted by Saint Joseph's of Maine)
Game 8: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner - 12:00 PM
Game 9: if necessary - 3:30 PM

Founded in 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Each year, the GNAC sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunities and community involvement. 

– #TheGNAC –