Baseball Splits Doubleheader with Johnson & Wales (RI)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology baseball team split Saturday's doubleheader at Johnson & Wales (RI). The Leopards fell 5-4 in game one before the offense exploded in game two for a 15-9 win. Wentworth improves to 3-3 in conference play and 13-9 overall.

GAME 1: Johnson & Wales (RI) 5, Wentworth 4

Mike Sibert tallied one hit and two RBI, and Nick Cullinan went 1-4. Matthew Favazzo, Christian Roncal, and Caleb Cormier all tallied one hit and one run. Alex Dayton scored one run. Nigel Cross threw 7.2 innings on the mound and recorded six strikeouts.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Sibert's sacrifice fly in the top of the third scored Cormier to give the Leopards a 1-0 lead. Cross kept the Wildcats off the board through seven innings, but Wentworth could not add to its advantage.
• Johnson & Wales tied the game in the bottom of the eighth before a double down the left field line from Jack Dwyer put the hosts in front 2-1. Justin Hernandez hit an RBI single to make it 3-1 to the Wildcats.
• Wentworth answered in the top of the ninth with Favazzo scoring after Roncal's hit. Roncal came in to score on a wild pitch as Dayton moved to third. Sibert's sacrifice fly brought in Dayton to give the Leopards a 4-3 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
• Ryan Ducey called game in the bottom of the ninth with a single to left field that scored two runs to give Johnson & Wales the 5-4 walk-off victory in game one.

GAME 2: Wentworth 15, Johnson & Wales (RI) 9

Matt Robinson went 4-5 with five runs and Nick Cullinan went 3-5, scoring five runs. Matthew Favazzo went 3-5 with two runs and two RBI while Christian Roncal and Caleb Cormier each tallied three hits. Josh Turcotte had two hits and five RBI to lead the team. Roncal added three RBI and Jake Samela tallied two runs and three RBI. Jace Rogers got the win after throwing 2.1 innings with one strikeout.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Turcotte doubled to right field in the top of the first to score Cullinan and Robinson to give the Leopards an early 2-0 lead. Johnson & Wales responded in the second inning with five runs on three hits to take the lead.
• Cormier tallied an RBI with a single to right in the fourth inning to bring the Leopards within two runs. Turcotte's sacrifice fly in the fifth made it 5-4 before Favazzo drilled a single to left to score Cullinan and tied the game 5-5.
• The Leopards' offense kept rolling in the seventh inning after Samela singled to right field to score two runs to give Wentworth a 7-5 lead. Favazzo doubled to left center to score Turcotte before scoring on a wild pitch as Wentworth stretched the advantage to 9-5. Roncal hit an RBI single to make it 10-5 through seven innings.
• Samela reached on a fielder's choice in the eighth as Robinson came in to score, pushing the lead to 11-5. The Leopards continued to roll as Roncal brought in two more runs with a single to left field. The Wildcats tacked on three runs in the bottom of the inning to make it a 13-8 game.
• Turcotte brought in two runs in the top of the ninth with a single to left center as the Leopards stretched their lead to 15-8 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Johnson & Wales tacked on one in the ninth, but the Leopards held on to win 15-9 and split the doubleheader.

THE SERIES

• Today was the 11^th and 12^th all-time meeting between the teams.

NEXT UP

• The Leopards visit Hartford on Tuesday.

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