Auburndale, Fla. – Freshman Brian Sullivan (Auburn, Mass.) started his collegiate career in fine fashion and the 2011 edition of Clark baseball opened up its season with a doubleheader sweep of New Jersey City University on Saturday afternoon.
The Cougars won game one behind sophomore hurler Andrew LeBlanc (Farmington, Conn.) and then rallied for a 5-4 win in the nightcap.
Sullivan aided LeBlanc's strong performance on the mound with a 3-for-4 showing at the plate with three doubles and a stolen base.
LeBlanc, meanwhile, tossed a complete game shutout, allowing the Gothic Knights just three hits while striking out six and walking one.
In addition to Sullivan's inaugural performance, Peter Lewis (Gardiner, Maine) was 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI.
The game was scoreless until the top of the sixth when Mitch DeLorenzo (Berlin, Conn.) led off the inning with one of his three walks. He stole second and came around to score on Sullivan's second double of the game. Later in the inning, Lewis delivered a bases-clearing double to center and then scored the game's final run on a Scott Hollingsworth (Tilton, N.H.) single to left.
In the end, LeBlanc was the story as he retired the final eight batters he faced to pick up the victory.
Game two proved to be a little different than the first as the Cougars scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to escape with a 5-4 win.
Things seemed as if the Clark offense would get going right away after the Cougars loaded the bases with three straight singles in the bottom of the first but they could only muster a single run on a passed ball.
NJCU finally got on the board in the top of the third with three runs highlighted by a Ken Witte two-run single. The Gothic Knights tacked on another run in the fourth when three straight singles made the score 4-1.
Clark answered back with a run in the fourth on a Justin Griffin (Manchester, N.H.) RBI groundout, and then they had the big inning in the fifth. After Lewis reached on an error, DeLorenzo doubled and Kevin Kopec (Katonah, N.Y.) brought in a run with a sacrifice fly. Sullivan then knotted the score with an RBI single and Nicholas Kellogg (Florence, Mass.) drove in the go-ahead run with a double to left.
After freshman Jake Sorrentino (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) and senior Robert Lopez (Copake, N.Y.) got the Cougars through the first four innings, senior Phillip Bertocci (Thomason, Maine) tossed three innings of hitless relief to earn his first career win.
Clark (2-0) will return to action on Sunday with a doubleheader matchup against Worcester-area rival Anna Maria beginning at 12:30 p.m.