HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 18, 2021) – Ryan Wall went deep three times in two games and the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team hit a total of six big flies to earn a doubleheader sweep of Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus Sunday, winning game one 5-4 before taking home a 13-0 victory in the second contest of the day at Dobbelaar Field.

With the sweep, Stevens moves to 16-7 in MAC Freedom play this season to remain in second place and clinch at least a top-four seed in the conference tournament heading into the final week of the regular season.

FDU-Florham, meanwhile, drops to 8-16 on the year and currently sits in seventh place in the conference standings. If the season ended today, the Ducks and the Devils would face off once again in the MAC Freedom Tournament Quarterfinals.

In between the doubleheader, Stevens honored its senior class of 2021 consisting of Tyler Armstrong, Chandler Brierley, Roy Iversen, Gannon Kenney-McGowan, Thomas Paulich, Alex Smith, Eli Zuckerman and Nate Zuckerman.

"What a great day it ended up being for Sttevens Baseball and our seniors," head coach Kristaps Aldins said. "These seniors are a group I am really excited about and proud of. They have been through a lot over the years and helped spearhead a turnaround for our program. The winning baseball culture highlighted by the 'being a great teammate' component is what I will always remember this group for."

The first contest of the day was a back-and-forth affair that featured four homers and four lead changes in just seven innings of action. All five of Stevens' runs and two of the Devils' four in the game came via the long ball.

With Ryan Shea on the hill to start the contest for the Ducks, FDU-Florham got on the board in the top half of the first thanks to an error and an RBI single, but Shea was able to strand a pair of runners on base to keep the deficit at one.

Wall came to the plate an started his extremely impressive day in his first at bat in the bottom of the second as he turned on a 2-1 pitch and lifted it over the right centerfield wall to make the score 2-1.

The score remained the same until the top of the fifth when FDU tied the contest with another unearned run on a dropped fly ball in center by Michael Reyes that would have been the final out of the inning.

The Ducks responded in the bottom half thanks to Brett Mendez's first collegiate bomb on a 1-1 pitch to give Stevens a 3-2 lead.

The next half inning, the Devils re-took the on a home run of their own as Matt Nodoro blasted a two-run bomb to center.

After Johnny Albrecht doubled to lead off the bottom of the sixth, Reyes, determined to atone for the error in the fifth, stepped to the plate and promptly deposited a 2-1 pitch into the parking lot beyond the right field fence to give Stevens a 5-4 edge.

That would be all Anthony Pron (1-0) needed in the seventh as he came on in relief and picked up the victory after working around a pair of bases hits in two innings of work. It was the third result in a row for Pron after he picked up saves in each of his last two outings.

Shea did not factor into the decision on the mound but was effective as he tossed 5+ innings, allowing four runs, two earned, on four hits while striking out three.

Offensively, Stevens finished with just five hits in the win as Albrecht had a double and a single to go along with the three homers from Mendez, Wall and Reyes.

"We had to play catch up again late in the first game of the day," Aldins said. "But after a big double by Albrecht in the sixth, Reyes put us back up with a big fly to right. Pron made it hold up the rest of the way for the tidy 5-4 result."

The second contest of the day was not nearly as contested as the Ducks posted their third shutout of the season and scored in double figures for the seventh time this year.

Stevens got on the board in the bottom of the first thanks to an RBI fielder's choice off the bat of Albrecht but could not muster anything else as Devils' starter Anthony Molina-Porras (0-1) induced a double play with two runners on to end the inning.

It remained a one-run game until the bottom of the fourth when Wall stepped up with a pair of runners on base and launched his second dinger of the day over the scoreboard in right field to give the Ducks some breathing room at 4-0.

The four runs were plenty for Roy Iversen on the mound as he allowed just three hits over six scoreless frames to earn the win. Iversen (4-2) struck out six in the start and earned his second victory on the mound of the week.

The big inning for Stevens came in the bottom of the seventh as they plated seven runs on six hits in the frame.

After Kenney-McGowan started the scoring in the inning with a one-out solo homer into the right centerfield gap, Albrecht continued his impressive day with a two-RBI single to left field to bring home Zuckerman and Mendez.

While he did not hit a homer, Albrecht was consistent at the plate as he combined to for 3 for 6 with two doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored in the doubleheader.

Reyes then singled and Ben Tobio was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Wall. The junior fell behind in the count 0-2 but was unphased as he hit his third dinger of the day in grand fashion to give him seven RBIs in the game, one short of the program record set by David Riley in 2001 and Robert Koudelka in 1959.

In the bottom half of the eighth, Stevens turned to its bench and got solid production as Chris Zickert delivered a two-out double into center to put a pair of runners in scoring position for Justin Doyle.

In his first plate appearance of the year, Doyle ripped a 3-1 fastball right back through the box to score a pair and make the score 13-0. It was the first career base hit and RBIs for Doyle who came into the game with just one other at-bat in his career.

Leo Bristow and Eli Zuckerman were both effective in relief of Iversen as the duo combined to toss three scoreless innings with just one hit allowed while fanning a pair.

Kenney-McGowan, Zuckerman and Wall all had multi-hit games in the win for Stevens.

"The second game was close as well for a while," Aldins said. "Iversen pitched a great game for us. We finally gout our offensive groove going in the middle innings thanks to a mammoth game from Wall and some key swings from Kenney-McGowan. Bristow and Zuckerman pitched very well out of the bullpen to preserve the 13-0 shutout."

In clinching a top-four seed, Stevens has ensured it will host at least the quarterfinals of the MAC Freedom Tournament on May 1 with the if-necessary game three at the lower-seeded team's home field.

Next Up: The Ducks will take on the only team they are looking up at in the standings, DeSales University, Saturday and Sunday in a four game set. The first two games will be played in Center Valley, Pa., starting at 12:00 p.m. Live stats and video for the entire series will be available on StevensDucks.com.

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