Baseball Swept at Johnson & Wales

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Johnson & Wales baseball team won a pair of games against Wentworth in a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Pierce Field. The Wildcats took game one by a score of 2-0 and managed a 6-1 victory in game two to sweep the doubleheader.

The Wildcats got on the board early after a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Alex Pezzuto (Hastings, N.Y.) scored Matt Newsome (Providence, R.I.) from third. Jack Hocking (Hanover, Mass.) scored on a Brian Olofson (Highlands, N.J.) single to give JWU the 2-0 lead after one. Both teams were held scoreless for the remainder of the game as the Wildcats held on for the 2-0 victory.

Alex MacKay (Sanford, Maine) earned his first victory of the year after throwing five and two-thirds inning of three hit baseball. Chris DePalma (Taunton, Mass.) earned his first save of the season. Junior Alex Wong (Lewiston, Maine) suffered his first loss (1-1) for the Leopards, allowing a pair of runs on two hits and striking out five in six innings. Wong also had one of Wentworth's three hits.

In game two, Wentworth took the 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning when freshman third baseman Scott Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine) hit a triple past the diving right fielder to score sophomore Dakota Baird (Bermuda Dunes, Calif.). JWU answered in the bottom of the inning after Tyler Newell (Westerly, R.I.) led off with a double down the right field line and later scored on a wild pitch. Pezzuto gave the Wildcats the 2-1 lead with a sacrifice fly to deep center, scoring Newsome. Newell connected on a single to center in the 4th, with runners on first and second, to give JWU the 3-1 lead heading into the Fifth. Olofson tacked on the fourth run with a single to center, extending the Wildcats lead to three. James Reyes' (Providence, R.I) two-RBI single capped off the scoring as the JWU cruised to the 6-1 win in game two.

Freshman John Amodeo (Mahopac, N.Y.) went the distance in game two only allowing one run on four hits and striking out seven batters. Newell went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Reyes was 1-for-3 with two RBI in game two. Senior Kyle Cruz (Burlington, Conn.) suffered his first loss of the season (2-1) after allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits in five innings.

JWU is now 3-6 overall while Wentworth moves to 7-8 overall for the year. The Wildcats will return to action on Sunday, March 18th when they host Thomas College for a non-conference contest beginning at 1:00 p.m. Wentworth is at Brandeis on Wednesday.

(Portions of this Release Courtesy of Johnson & Wales Sports Information)