Junior JC Collette (Amesbury, Mass.) hit a go-ahead grand slam in the top of the fourth to propel the Suffolk University Baseball team to a 7-5 victory on Friday afternoon over Salem State University.

Junior Dan Shields (Haverhill, Mass.) threw 5 2/3 innings of relief only allowing one run to earn the victory on the mound for Suffolk who have now won five of their last seven contests to move to a 5-7-1 record on the season.

Weather played a factor early on as Salem State put up four runs in the second inning through a steady drizzle. Senior Kyle McElroy (Newburyport, Mass.) would draw a one out walk before coming around to score on a double by junior Ryan Beliveau (Lynn, Mass.).  Senior Ethan Trowt (Beverly, Mass.) would knock in another run later in the inning with a base hit, before a bases loaded walk to sophomore Richard Fecteau (Newbury, Mass.) would bring in the third run of the inning. Salem would cap the inning off as Trowt scored on a balk to make it 4-0 after two innings of play.

Suffolk would answer in the fourth scoring five times to take a lead in which they would not relinquish. Senior Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.) led the inning off with a single to center, before sophomore Jon Lapolla (Providence, R.I.) drew a walk and freshman Matt Brenner (Eliot, Me.) reached on a bunt single. Senior Devan Jones (Roslindale, Mass.) drew a bases loaded walk to bring home Suffolk's first run. Collette would then connect on his first home run of the season, a high towering shot that hooked inside the left field foul pole to clear the bases and give Suffolk the 5-4 lead.

Jones would lead the sixth off with his first home run of the season while Collette would score later in the inning on a wild pitch to give Suffolk some insurance.

Shields was strong out of the bullpen as he retired 12 hitters in a row heading into the ninth inning to pick up his first victory of the season.

He gave way to freshman Mark Fusco (Medford, Mass.) after allowing two runners to start off the ninth. Fusco escaped the jam to record his first career collegiate save.

Suffolk will be back in action on Saturday afternoon as they open up their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) slate with a double header against Rivier University. First pitch is scheduled at 1:30pm as the games have been moved to Malden Catholic High School.