The first United States Collegiate Athletic Association Baseball and Softball Coaches polls were announced on Friday, April 1. College of Saint Joseph baseball was ranked No. 1 in the country, while the softball team was ranked No. 4. The Fighting Saints have been on a tear, winning their last six games to give them the nation’s best overall record at 22-9. With a very competitive national conference, Lady Saints softball has the sixth best overall record at 11-8, but was ranked fourth in the coaches poll due to their difficult schedule. They are an impressive 7-1 in Yankee Small College Conference games so far this season.
CSJ’s baseball and softball teams were only able to play a couple of games this past week due to the up and down weather happening in the Northeast so far this spring. Lady Saints softball had its doubleheader against Lyndon State on Tuesday, March 29 cancelled because of rain and the baseball team had its doubleheader against Fisher college on Sunday, April 3 cancelled due to snow. The Fighting Saints were able to get two games in on Saturday against Fisher College and they beat the Falcons with relative ease in both match ups. Here is a closer look at the two games.
April 2
Alan Madsen had yet another impressive outing in the Fighting Saints’ first of two meetings against Fisher College on Saturday afternoon in which CSJ won in blowout fashion 9-1. He threw five strikeouts to just one walk, and allowed one run on four hits in eight innings on the mound. Saints’ catcher Chris Doyle was highly productive at the plate. He had three hits, including a double, leading to two RBI’s. He also scored two runs himself. The Saints outhit the Falcons 12 to 4.
Bill Brancatella earned the win for the Saints (9-3) in their second game against Fisher. The 6’5 giant was a beast from the mound, proving that power pitching can certainly get the job done. Big Bill struck out an outstanding 12 batters and gave up three runs in seven innings of work. Derek Osborne came in and closed the deal for the last two innings, giving up one hit and no runs. Connor Martin continued his groove from the plate, getting three hits and two RBI’s to help the Saints pull away. The game was scoreless after two innings, until CSJ pushed through in the top of the third, scoring six runs and never looking back. CSJ had 12 hits overall to Fisher’s seven.
