MERION STATION, Pa. – The Saint Joseph's baseball team split a doubleheader with Massachusetts at Smithson Field on Saturday afternoon, taking the opener 6-1 before falling in the regular season finale, 7-3. The result gives the Hawks the second seed in next week's Atlantic 10 Championship.
In the opener, senior Jordan Carter twirled a masterpiece, allowing just four hits and one run while striking out nine in a complete-game 6-1 victory. The win is Carter's 10th of the season, setting a new school record.
Chris Hueth kicked things off in the first for Saint Joseph's (33-14 overall, 18-8 Atlantic 10) with his fourth home run of the season over the fence in right. Brian O'Keefe hit a bases-loaded single in the third to score Taylor Boyd and make it a 2-0 Hawk lead after three.
SJU exploded for four runs in the fifth as O'Keefe and Stefan Kancylarz each hit two-run home runs to extend the margin to 6-0.
The Minutemen got one back in the sixth, scoring on a sacrifice fly, but Carter cruised the rest of the way for his record-setting victory. Andrew Grant threw a complete game for Massachusetts as well, allowing six runs on nine hits in eight innings to fall to 2-3.
In the finale, it was the Minutemen who scored early and extended the lead as UMass ended its season with a 7-3 win.
Massachusetts (15-31 overall, 12-15 Atlantic 10) scored twice in the first on a pair of doubles before tacking one on in the third on a single by Dylan Begin.
UMass tacked on singletons in the fifth and sixth to extend the margin to 5-0 before the Hawks got one back in the bottom of the sixth. Collin Forgey led off the inning with a walk before a Tommy Cunningham double led to a sacrifice fly by Mike Muha to cut the deficit to 5-1.
The Minutemen scored another in the seventh, but Forgey led off the eighth with his fourth home run of the season to make it a 6-2 game. Muha, Kancylarz, and Kevin Kratochwill hit consecutive singles to slice the deficit to three.
UMass scored on a passed ball in the ninth to set the final score at 7-3.
Aaron Plunkett allowed one run on four hits in five and two-thirds innings for his first win of the season. Tyler Pallante took the loss for SJU, falling to 0-2.
The Hawks finished the regular season in second place in the Atlantic 10 and will open postseason play on Wednesday, May 21, at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time against either Dayton or Fordham.
