Lefthander Dan Meeken (Sr., Marshfield, Mass.) shut out red-hot Johnson & Wales on five hits to lead St. Joseph's College to a 6-0 victory in the second game of their doubleheader with the Wildcats at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletics Complex tonight.

With the split, the Monks (20-11, 10-1) locked up the GNAC's regular-season title and the top seed in next week's conference playoffs.  St. Joe's has won the league's last five championships and its automatic berth in the NCAA New England regional tournament.

The Wildcats (13-11, 6-4 GNAC) scored eight runs in the bottom of the sixth to hand the Monks their first conference loss in a wild opener, 9-2.  The split was JWU's fourth in league play this season.

The Monks took a 2-1 lead into the sixth behind Alex Valenti (Sr., Lawrence, Mass.), who tossed five innings of three-hit ball with eight strikeouts.  But in the sixth, JWU sent 12 men to the plate against three St. Joseph's relievers, and parlayed two walks, five singles, an RBI double by pinch-hitter Rob Ballinger (Fr., South Kingstown, R.I.), and a three-run home run by junior designated hitter Andrew Hunton (Monroe, N.Y.) into an eight-run rally.

Facing the GNAC's top reliever, junior Cory McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.), and down by a run, the Wildcats' Carlos Sanabria (So., Pawtucket, R.I.) drew only the second walk allowed by the Monks' closer all year.  Freshman Ivan Reyes (Cranston, R.I.) blooped a single behind the first base bag, and third baseman Jordan Pilarski (Jr., Garnet Valley, Pa.) walked on a close 3-2 pitch to load the bases for Ryan Cabral (Scituate, R.I.).  The sophomore first baseman proceeded to lace a fastball into center to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead.

The onslaught, however, had just begun.  Catcher Ty Karalis (Jr., Pawtucket, R.I.) stroked an RBI single before Ballinger's one-out double to the left-center field fence.  Then with two down and Josh Partridge in relief of McNamara, Hunton deposited a 2-1 pitch over the left-center field fence with two runners aboard, and the Wildcats had their sixth, seventh, and eighth runs of the game.  Sanabria then singled, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on a sharp single to left by Reyes for the game's final run.

Jake Marchessault (So., Wyoming, R.I.), the GNAC's 2014 Pitcher of the Year, pitched his third complete game of the season for his second win of the year.  McNamara was tagged with the loss.

Meeken, though, was sharp in the second game, and held a Johnson & Wales team that had ten or more hits in their last six games to a well-spread five.  Only twice did Meeken (3-2) allow a runner to second, and had at least one strikeout in every inning but the sixth. 

SJC got the only run they would need in the top of the second, when Brett Barbati (So., Melrose, Mass.) singled and scored on a two-out single by Dennis Meehan (So., Gardiner, Me.). 

Taylor Reuillard (Jr., Biddeford, Maine), who had three doubles in the nightcap, stroked an RBI two-bagger to right-center, scoring Taylor Black (So., Merrimack, N.H.) from first after Black had reached on an error.  The GNAC's leading hitter, catcher Joe Coyne (Sr., Duxbury, Mass.) laced a double to plate Reuillard to make it 3-0.

Reuillard's third double kicked off a three-run fifth that also included Coyne's second hit of the game and Barbati's third, a single to right.  Dan Donovan (Jr., Lynn, Mass.) send the final two runs across with a single to center field that went through the legs of the Wildcats' starter, senior Shawn Haugh (Tampa, Fla.) who fell to 2-3 on the year.

Barbati went six-for-seven on the day, raising his batting average 39 points to .347.  Reuillard's five hits in the two games put him at .402 on the year.

The Wildcats control their own destiny in their quest for the other first-round bye in the GNAC playoffs.  JWU travels to New Haven tomorrow to take on 3-7 Albertus Magnus, then move on to Northfield, Vermont, on Saturday to tangle with 2-8 Norwich. 

The Monks wrap up their GNAC season against Suffolk this weekend.