WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - The Swarthmore College baseball team ended its Florida trip on a high note Thursday, riding complete game pitching efforts from Luke Alventosa and Ramsey Walker to a doubleheader sweep of Rhode Island College (1-9). The Garnet won the first game 5-1 and the second 7-3, finishing its RussMatt Centeral Florida Invitational schedule with a 6-3 record while improving to 6-5 overall this season.

Game 1: Swarthmore 5, Rhode Island College 1

In the day's first matchup, Swarthmore jumped out to an early lead in the second inning when Greg Cox walked, stole second base, and then came around to score on an RBI single to right by John Lim. The Anchormen would respond in the third with a run of their own, but Swarthmore bounced right back, plating one in the fifth to regain the lead when Tim Kwilos smoked a single to left field, stole second, and advanced home on an error by the Rhode Island third baseman.

That would prove to be plenty for Swarthmore starting pitcher Luke Alventosa, who mowed through the Anchormen lineup the rest of the way. In total, Alventosa allowed one run on four hits and a walk, and needed just 81 pitches to earn the victory, his first on the young season. Danny McMahon and John Lim paced the offense with two hits apiece, while Rory McTear added a triple, an RBI, and a run scored in the effort.

Game 2: Swarthmore 7, Rhode Island College 3

In game two, senior right-handed pitcher Ramsey Walker saw his offense tally seven runs on thirteen hits-- including three from both Danny McMahon and Cody Ruben-- en route to his first win of the season and his team's second victory of the afternoon.

The Garnet got on the scoreboard early with an RBI single from McMahon in the first inning and never looked back from there, adding one run in the second, two in the third, and one in the fourth to build a five-run advantage after four innings of play. Big hits came from Joe Rizzo-- who finished 2-4 with 2 runs batted in-- and Sean Bryant-- who also recorded two base knocks and an RBI-- while Ruben finished the game with three hits, an RBI, and a stolen base.

On the mound, Ramsey Walker battled from the game's opening pitch, allowing three runs on nine hits while stranding six Anchormen runners in the complete game victory. With the win, Walker secured Swarthmore's third straight victory to close out the team's Florida schedule.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Matt Midkiff praised his team's growth over its last week of action.

"When you play a lot of baseball in a short period of time, you get to learn a lot about yourself. We were able to find our groove offensively: the guys were able to string some at-bats together and really take the approach we've been working on and implement it in game situations and see success in that."

On the other side of the ball, "our pitchers were able to find consistent roles, raise their pitch counts a little bit, and throw in game situations where they weren't always comfortable...but showed us their ability to overcome adversity and play in tight games, which was really good to see."

Midkiff concluded, "Overall, I'd say we had a very successful trip."

The Garnet will return to Pennsylvania on Friday in anticipation of a two-day home and home series against Penn State Brandywine beginning on Monday of next week. Swarthmore will visit the Lions for a 3:00 PM start, before playing host to Brandywine at the same time on Tuesday.