AMCATS Roll Over Bison

Worcester, Mass – The Anna Maria College AMCATS belted 16 hits and scored 11 runs en route to a 11-0 shutout victory over Nichols College in non-conference baseball action today at Quinsigamond College.  With the win the AMCATS improve to 9-7 while the Bison drop to 1-10 on the year.

Anna Maria received six strong innings from pitcher Justin Hyland (Spencer, Mass.) who improved to 2-0. Hyland struck out seven and only allowed 4 hits scattered over the six innings. Relief pitchers Brandon Normandin (Oxford, Mass.) and Tim Henderson (Wayland, Mass.) pitched the rest of the way only allowing one more hit for the combined shutout.

Mike Gaurnieri (Wallingford, Conn.) led the offensive attack for the AMCATS going 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, while teammate Carlos Ortiz (Worcester, Mass.) had 2 RBI on a 2-for-4 day at the plate.  Kevin Wodatch (Wallingford, Conn.), Hyland, Jeff Scafidi (Worcester, Mass.) and John Sullivan (Southbury, Conn.) all had multi-hits on the day.

Nichols senior Nick Fowler (Salem, Mass.) suffered the loss for the Bison, going only 2 innings and surrendering 7 hits and four earned runs. Cody Jankins (West Brookfield, Mass.), Dylan Courtney (Ware, Mass.), Bryan Gill (New Hyde Park, NY), Mile Cattaruzza (North Branford, Conn.) and Brett Jackson (Larchmont, NY) collected the Bison's hits.

The AMCATS wasted no time scoring early and often. Junior Mike Gaurnieri drove a single into right field to drive home Kevin Wodatch (Wallingford, Conn) for the 1-0 lead after one inning.

In the bottom of the second Anna Maria capitalized on some shaky Bison defense.  Wodatch stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and drove a single to center field to double the lead. Gaurnieri added another run with a single to left field and Carlos Ortiz doubled to centerfield driving in the last run of the inning. After two innings the AMCATS held a 6-0 advantage.

Anna Maria tacked on an unearned run in the home half of the third inning and scored two more runs in the bottom of the fifth.  Junior Justin Hyland figured in both runs, driving in one with a seeing-eye single up the middle and scoring the other on a wild pitch.

Carlos Ortiz drove in his second run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh and Joe McNeil (Sutton, Mass.) singled to left field scoring Scafidi to make it an 11-0 final.

The AMCATS return to action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Emerson for a GNAC doubleheader starting at Noon.