EAST BOSTON – Brady Chant sealed his spot as one of the all-time greats in Suffolk baseball history as the senior centerfield notched his 200th hit in the Rams' 10-1 victory over Lasell Sunday afternoon at East Boston Memorial Park.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 10, Lasell 1
RECORDS: Suffolk (7-13, 2-0 GNAC) | Lasell (3-10, 2-1 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Chant wasted no time to secure his 200th hit as he entered game one of the doubleheader just one hit shy of the milestone. The Warwick, Rhode Island, native led off the game with a single to seal the accomplishment. The hit also started a three-run rally for the Rams. After Chant ran out the throw for the single he advanced to second on a throwing error by the Lasers' shortstop. Trevor Lee followed the game-opening single with one of his own and Chant turned on the wheels to round the bases and open the scoring. Will Hopkins followed suit with a single to move Lee to third before the freshman outfield sniped second to advance into scoring position himself. Seth Coiley collected an RBI on a 53 ground out that scored Lee, before Greg Speliotis' double down the right field line brought in Hopkins for the 3-0 advantage.
Lasell responded in the second stanza as Sean Doris stole home to give the Lasers its first and what would be their only run of the day, which cut Suffolk's lead to two, 3-1.
The Rams made up the ground and then some in the top of the fourth. Blasé Cormier started things off with a single up the middle and Rich Gilbride walked before Steven Shamnoski took advantage of an indecisive decision by Lasell pitcher Zach Handzel to loaded the bases. Ben Isaak brought in Cormier and Gilbride on a double to left field and Chant picked up a pair of RBI with a single to right to stretch Suffolk's edge to 7-1. The Lasers made a change on the hill with Lorenzo Davis coming out the pen, but the new arm was no match for the blue-and-gold as it remained hot with Lee barreling a single to right to put runners in the corners. A wild pitch moved Lee into scoring position and Davis second wild pitch of the frame let Chant strut in to turn it into an 8-1 Suffolk score.
Suffolk tacked on two more runs in the top of the fifth. Once again the trio of Cormier, Gilbride and Shamnoski put all the ducks in the pond; this time Cormier walk, Gilbride doubled and Shamonski wore a pitch. Lasell made its second change on the mound and history repeated itself with a Suffolk single following suit as Isaak knocked the ball to center to score Cormier. A fielder's choice on Chant's at bat let Gilbride cross home to lengthen the Rams' margin to 10-1.
Mark Fusco kept the Lasers bats quiet as he let up just one walk in the bottom of the fifth to maintain the nine-run margin. Jake Flax came out of the pen to take over for the starter and dealt a three-up, three-down inning with one strikeout looking to secure the 10-1 victory for the Rams.
PITCHERRS PICTURE
- Fusco improved to 2-2 on the season with a one-run, six-hit, one-walk, four-strikeout afternoon through 6.0 innings of work.
- Flax threw one inning of scoreless relief with one punchout.
- Five different hurlers saw action for Lasell with Handzel suffering the setback. The starter allowed eight runs, six earned, on seven hits, two walks and sat down a pair of hitters.
- Davis (2R, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 K), Chris O'Connor (1 H), Christian Berk (1 BB, 2 K) and Dylan Fenuccio (1 H, 1 BB) all saw one inning apiece for the Lasers.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Chant finished the milestone-day with three hits, three RBI and two runs scored.
- Isaak also stood out in the win as the freshman third baseman went 2-for-2 with one double, three RBI, one run and one stolen base.
- Lee produced a multi-hit outing as well with two to his credit for one RBI and one run scored.
- Gilbride and Speliotis had one double each. Gilbride scored two runs, while Speliotis brought one in.
NOTEWORHTY
- Chant became the fifth-ever Suffolk baseball player to record 200 hits throughout their career and became the first to accomplish the feat since Devan Jones in 2014.
- With three hits on the afternoon, Chant moved into sole passion four fourth overall on the all-time hit list with 202 throughout his career.
- Chant became just the fifth active Division III Player in the country to eclipse the mark.
- Relief pitcher Flax took the mound for the first time in nearly 800 days since being sidelined due to injury.
- Chant matched a season-high three hits.
- Isaac produced a career-high three RBI.
- Gilbride matched a personal-best two runs scored.
- Suffolk won its sevenths straight game versus Lasell to improve to 23-1 all-time versus the Lasers.
POST-GAME PIC
ON DECK
Suffolk completes the two-game series with Lasell at 5:00 p.m.