Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

When the John Carroll University baseball team took the field on Saturday, they knew that had more than a few reasons to win. Not only were the Blue Streaks coming off two straight losses, and not only was the 40-year anniversary of JCU baseball being celebrated, but Saturday also marked Senior Day for JCU. 

Fittingly, the Blue & Gold were able to celebrate the occasions in style, sweeping the Polar Bears by respective scores of 7-5 and 3-0.

Game One

The Schweickert Field's namesake was in attendance, as the founder of JCU baseball, Dr. Jerry Schweickert, threw out of one two ceremonial first pitches. The other was thrown by Alan Bossard, father of former JCU pitcher Joe Bossard, representing John Carroll's "Strike Out Cancer" campaign.

Considering the game's end result, it seems as though their tosses brought nothing but good vibes for the Blue Streaks.

Senior Patrick O'Brien appropriately took the mound in game one on Senior Day, but didn't get off to the start he had envisioned. O'Brien struggled with his location early and allowed three runs in the first inning alone – matching the combined number of runs he had allowed all season prior to Saturday.

Trailing 3-0 after just one half inning of play, the Blue Streaks knew they had to respond on offense. Fortunately, that's exactly what they did.

Junior Jimmy Spagna started the run-scoring frenzy, ripping a single to left field that allowed sophomore Bobby Sabatino to score. Following Spagna, senior Aaron Miller smacked a single to right field, allowing junior Mitch Herringshaw to score. However, ONU's defense couldn't handle a throw to home plate on the play, scoring Spagna and advancing Miller to third base. With the game tied at three, sophomore Chet Lauer drove in Miller from third on a fielder's choice, giving JCU a 4-3 lead.

After a shaky first inning, O'Brien started to find his groove in the second as he backed up his offense, shutting down the Polar Bears.

The score would remain at 4-3 in favor of JCU until the bottom of the third, when Miller singled to center field, allowing Spagna to score and increase the home team's lead to 5-3.

In the fourth inning, the Blue Streaks tacked on a pair of runs to add to the advantage. A fielder's choice by senior Joe Veltri allowed sophomore Mark Huddle to score. Shortly after, Herringshaw whacked an RBI double, scoring senior Connor Marrero on the play to push the JCU lead to 7-3.

Freshman pitcher Aaron Lapaglia came on in relief, shutting down the Polar Bears in both the fifth and sixth innings before running into a bit of trouble in the seventh. While ONU was able to score two runs off of Lapaglia in the seventh inning, it was a case of too-little, too-late for the Polar Bears as the Blue Streaks picked up the 7-3 victory.

Game Two

With a win in game one, JCU had its sights set on completing the sweep on Senior Day. With sophomore Andrew Doring on the mound, the Blue Streaks were able to keep the Polar Bears' offense at bay, pulling out a 3-0 win.

While Doring was breezing through the ONU lineup early in the game, the Blue Streaks' offense was being held silent, as well. With the score tied at zero through four innings of action, the Blue & Gold wasted no more time to get on the board.

In the bottom of the fifth, Veltri reached first base via an error, giving the Blue Streaks a spark to start the inning. After he was forced out at second base via a fielder's choice from Konsler, Marrero then flew out to record the second out of the inning. With Konsler on first and two outs in the inning, Sabatino singled to center, advancing Konsler to third.

With runners on the corners, Huddle roped a ground rule double to right field, allowing Konsler to score and giving JCU runners on second and third. A wild pitch allowed for Sabatino to score and Huddle to advance to third, and that's all the Blue Streaks would get, ending the fifth inning with a 2-0 lead in hand.

In the eighth inning, the Blue Streaks tacked on one insurance run via an RBI double from Miller. With a 3-0 lead in hand, the Blue Streaks' bullpen duo of junior Kevin Rosinski and senior Vinny Trivisonno closed out the game, securing the sweep.

Trivisonno retired the side in the top of the ninth to grab his first career save and put a bow on a memorable Senior Day.

With the win, the Blue Streaks improve to 25-14 on the season, including 13-5 OAC. They will now move on to the upcoming OAC Tournament, where they are the No. 2 seeded team. Tournament play begins on Thursday, May 9.