WORCESTER, Mass. – The Clark University baseball team (6-2) played their first two home games of the 2022 campaign and came away with a pair of wins against St. Joe's Maine (5-6) on Sunday afternoon from Granger Field.

Clark won game one 5-1 and registered a thrilling 4-3 walk off victory in game two.  

Game One: Clark 5, St. Joe's (Me.) 1

• Junior Benjamin Spencer took the bump in game one for Clark and after a leadoff walk, Spencer retired the next three batters in order in a 0-0 game.
• After retiring the side in order in the top of the second, the Cougars offense exploded for four runs, led by an RBI single to center field off the bat of first-year Matthew Kalinak that scored junior Ryan Caulfield and a three-run homer to left field off the bat of junior Anthony Keefe as Clark held a 4-0 lead after two innings of play.
• St. Joe's added a run in the top of the third and Spencer struck out three batters in the top of the fourth before senior Andrea Casabianca was able to steal third in the bottom of the fourth, but was unable to score in a 4-1 ball game after four innings of action.
• First-year Carter Doran opened the bottom of the fifth inning with a triple to center field and scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 5-1 after five innings of play.
• Spencer retired the side in the top of the sixth and with runners on first and third in the top of the seventh, forced a ground out as Clark won game one 5-1.

Game Two: Clark 4, St. Joe's (Me.) 3

• Sophomore Maxwell Gitlin made his third appearance of the year in game two on the mound and allowed no runs in the top of the first inning while striking out one batter.
• Fellow sophomore Billy Sullivan was hit by pitch in the bottom of the first and graduate student Trevor Ham singled to right field to advance Sullivan to third, but both were left on base in a 0-0 game after one inning of action.
• After St. Joe's scored a run in the top of the second, junior Ethan Belt hit a sacrifice fly to score Kalinak to tie the game at 1-1.
• Gitlin set the Monks down in order in the top of the third and in the bottom of the third, sophomore Samuel Farrell doubled to deep right center field to score Kalinak and junior Connor Rulnick as Clark held a 3-1 lead after three innings.
• St. Joe's tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth inning and neither team added a run in the sixth inning despite Kalinak getting into scoring position in the bottom half of the inning.
• After two runners reached base off Gitlin in the top of the seventh, Clark was able to force a 5-4-3 double play to get out of the top half of the inning in a 3-3 game.
• Sullivan and Caulfield both singled in the bottom of the seventh and Rulnick roped a double to right center that brought home Sullivan as Clark came away with a thrilling 4-3 win.

What's Next

Clark will host the third game of its homestand on Tuesday when they welcome Mass. Maritime to Granger Field for a non-conference contest beginning at 3:00 p.m.