Mitchell College Drops Two To Johnson & Wales

Mitchell College lose a baseball game and softball doubleheader to Johnson & Wales University on Wednesday. The following information was provided by Daniel Booth, sports information director at Johnson & Wales University:

Baseball: Johnson & Wales 6, Mitchell 3

The Johnson & Wales University baseball team posted a 6-3 victory over Mitchell in a non-conference contest at Pierce Field on Wednesday afternoon.

After a scoreless first, Johnson & Wales capitalized on a Mitchell miscue to push across five unearned runs in the bottom of the second.  The stanza included a two-run double to right center by senior Matt Newsome (Providence, R.I.) and an RBI single by senior Joe Coppola (Ridgewood, N.J.) to give the Wildcats the 5-0 advantage.  In the bottom of the fifth, sophomore Alex Pezzuto (Hastings, N.Y.) led off with a double and came around to score on an RBI groundout by junior Brian Olofson (Highlands, N.J.) for the 6-0 lead.  Mitchell got on the board in the top of the seventh when they scored three times, including an RBI double by freshman Evan Peck (Shelton, Conn.) to make the score 6-3.  That would be as close as the Mariners would get, however as senior Marc Sommerhalter (Emerson, N.J.) pitched a flawless eighth and fellow senior Chris DePalma (Taunton, Mass.) recorded his third save of the season with a scoreless ninth to give the Wildcats the 6-3 victory.

Freshman John Amodeo (Mahopac, N.Y.) picked up the win for Johnson & Wales, allowing three runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings of work while sophomore Tyler Shultis (West Hurley, N.Y.) suffered the loss for Mitchell, giving up four unearned runs on six hits in four innings.

Newsome went 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI for JWU while sophomore Jack Hocking (Hanover, Mass.), sophomore Jake Dickerson (Garnet Valley, Pa.) and Olofson each had two hits in the win for the Wildcats.  Peck was 2-for-4 in the loss for Mitchell.

With the victory JWU improves to 9-8 while Mitchell falls to 3-9 on the season.  The Wildcats will return to action on Saturday when they travel to Rivier for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference double header, starting at 1 p.m.

Softball: Johnson & Wales 3, Mitchell 0; Johnson & Wales 8, Mitchell 0

The Johnson & Wales University softball team won a pair of games against Mitchell College in a non-conference double header at Pierce Field on Wednesday afternoon.  Johnson & Wales won game one by a score of 3-0 before completing the sweep with an 8-0 in five innings in the nightcap.

The Wildcats got on the board in the bottom of the first inning when a lead-off double by Heather Imperatore (Westerly, R.I.) and walk by Tayla Gardner (Orangeburg, N.Y.) paved the way for a two-RBI double by sophomore Alyssa Babineau (Princeton, Mass.) to give JWU the 2-0 lead after one inning. Freshman Sandy Ristau (New Milford, Conn.) tacked on one more run on an RBI groundout to short to give the Wildcats the 3-0 lead after six innings. Gardner pitched the complete game giving up only one hit that came with two outs in the top of the 7th to Nikki Hoxie (Winsted, Conn.) en route to the 3-0 win.

Gardner, a transfer sophomore, struck out 10 in the game one victory. Babineau was 2-for-3 with two RBI while senior Olivia England (Natick, Mass.) collected two hits in the win as well.

In the nightcap JWU took the early lead in game two after capitalizing on a Mariners miscue in the bottom of the 1st to take the 2-0 lead. The Wildcats then exploded for four runs in the third thanks to an RBI single by Kelsey Dunn (Silver Spring, Md.) which scored Imperatore. England and Robyn Ziegler (Doylestown, Pa.) each had RBI singles in the inning giving the Wildcats the 6-0 lead. Taylor Cwalinski (Jackson, N.J.) gave JWU the 7-0 lead in the 4th inning on an RBI double down the left field line while Gardner’s single in the bottom of the 5th scored the final run as the Wildcats won game two, 8-0.

Imperatore, Cwalinski and Ziegler had two hits apiece in game two while Imperatore scored three runs in the victory.

With the two wins Johnson & Wales is now 10-8 overall while Mitchell falls to 3-9 on the year. The Wildcats will return to action on Friday, March 30th when they travel to Norwich for a GNAC doubleheader, starting at 3:00 p.m.