NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The Norwich University baseball team dropped a twinbill of college baseball action to Johnson and Wales (R.I.) in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on a cold and snowy Saturday afternoon at Garrity Field. JWU took a 17-10 win the opener and completed the sweep with an 8-3 victory in the nightcap.

In the opener, Johnson & Wales (18-12-1, 9-1 GNAC) took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Nick Alosco and Matt Yaeger.

Norwich (0-19, 0-6 GNAC) answered back in the bottom half when freshman INF Jordan Patton drew a leadoff and junior C Mitch Blair subsequently blasted a two-run shot over the left field fence.

With the game tied 5-5 after five innings of play, JWU exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth to take the 10-5 advantage. 

The Cadets responded once again, pushing across three runs in the sixth before junior OF David Maxfield drove in two runs with a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh to knot the game at 10-10 and force extra innings.

JWU erupted for seven runs in the extra frame, four of them unearned, en route to the 17-10 victory.

Sayers was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI in the win for JWU, while Yaeger was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored for the Wildcats.

Junior OF Dustin Shimkus went 4-for-5 with two doubles, an RBI and four runs scored for Norwich. Freshman DH Devin Cilley went 3-for-5, rapping out two doubles of his own in driving in three runs.

Marc Sommerhalter (5-0) notched his fifth win of the season with two innings of relief, allowing one run on four hits with one strikeout.

JWU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in nightcap, bring home two runs in the opening frame.

Norwich rallied to tie the game at 2-2 in bottom of the fourth when senior 1B Dustin Fleming belted a triple to deep right-center and scored on the ensuing throwing error by Bryan Sayers to start the frame. Patton singled before advancing to second on a Blair walk. Freshman INF Kyle Fitzsimmons then moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt and Patton scored on a wild pitch to the next batter.

JWU regained the lead in the top of the fifth on a two-run home run by Pete Rosa to go up 4-2. 

The Cadets managed to grab a run back in the home half when Cilley drove in Shimkus with an RBI-groundout to second base. Shimkus led off the inning with a triple to right-center, one of his three extra-base hits on the day.

The Wildcats padded their lead in the seventh when they put four more on the board, highlighted by a  two-run double by Rosa, to secure the 8-3 victory. 

Rosa was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI while Teddy Katz went 2-for-4 with a run scored and one RBI in the win for the Wildcats. Mike Wood (4-0) recorded the complete-game victory for JWU, allowing three runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts.

Shimkus added three more hits and a run scored in the contest for NU, while Fleming finished the game 2-for-4 and added a run of his own.

The Cadets will return to action on Wednesday, Apr. 20, when they travel to New Haven, Connecticut, to take on Albertus Magnus in a conference clash starting at 3:30 p.m.