FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications
BROCKPORT, N.Y. - The Johnson & Wales Baseball team fell in their third game of the NCAA regional, 9-3, to the Lyons of Wheaton (Mass.) College on Saturday. With their second loss, the Wildcats were eliminated from tournament contention.
The teams played to a scores first two innings before the Wildcats broke the deadlock in the bottom of the third frame. Trevor Juan (Bolton, Conn.) hit a sacrifice fly to center field that plated Riley Hasson (South Portland, Me.). The Wildcats added another run in the bottom of the fifth to take a 2-0 lead. The second run came in the same fashion as the first, with Juan hitting a sacrifice fly to center field that brought home Hasson.
Wheaton (Mass.) responded in the top half of the sixth inning, sending five runners home. The first two runs came on a Jared Studley home run, before they added three on a pair of RBI singles, taking a 5-2 lead. Studley hit a second home run in the top of the seventh inning, driving home one of the three runs in the frame.
After the Lyons added one more run in the top of the eighth, the Wildcats grabbed one back through Griffin Snyder (Marietta, Ga.) that brought home Juan, cutting the lead to six. The Wildcats were unable to find another run in the final two frames, falling 9-3 in nine innings.
JWU finishes the season as the Great Northeast Athletic Conference champions and an 18-27 overall record.
After defeating Wheaton in the first game of the regional on Friday morning, JWU fell to the Yellow Jackets of Baldwin Wallace on Saturday afternoon, 13-4, prior to the Wheaton setback.
Neither team found home plate in the first two innings, but Baldwin Wallace opened the scoring with a two RBI single by Ryan Guggenheim in the top of the third inning. The Yellow Jackets added two more runs in the frame, taking a 4-0 lead.
JWU responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame, both coming on bases loaded walks by EJ Leone (Peabody, Mass.) and Thorin Sanchez-Guerra (Lindenhurst, N.Y.). Two more runs in the top of the fourth inning restored the four run advantage for Baldwin Wallace.
Jack Magane (Walpole, Mass.) drove home Riley Hasson (South Portland, Me.) in the bottom of the fifth inning to draw one back for the Wildcats. Leone drove home Miles Kelly (East Setauket, N.Y.) in the bottom of the sixth inning following a two run top half for the Yellow Jackets, bringing the score to 10-4. Baldwin Wallace added three runs in the top of the ninth inning, eventually winning 13-4.