DUDLEY, Mass. – Suffolk baseball lifted the lid on its 2024 Commonwealth Coast Conference campaign with a 7-4 game one victory over Nichols Friday at the Bison Baseball Field.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 7 | Nichols 4
RECORDS: Suffolk (10-4, 1-0 CCC) | Nichols (9-4, 0-1 CCC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams scored on run in the first to keep things even through one. The Rams run came thanks to Adam Braid's base hit to center. The catcher brought in Jonny Gilbride, who reached on a single of his own and got into scoring position on a throwing mishap by the Bison's third baseman Jim Marasco when Harry Painter put the ball in play.
Suffolk got the go-ahead in the fifth. Colin Flynn opened things off with a single to center, stole second and grabbed third on an overthrow by the Bison's pitcher catcher William Nath, before scoring an error by Nichols' pitcher Patrick Sawyer when Gilbride struck the rock to the pitcher. The blue-and-gold's shortstop worked his way in on Painter's single before scoring on Max Martin's base hit to right to give the Rams a 3-1 advantage.
Two more Rams runs went up in the seventh. Another error by Marasco allowed Flynn to take first before the freshman swiped second. Painter pushed him on a double to let center before scoring himself on Braid's base hit to center field.
Nichols trimmed the distance back to three with its second sac fly of the day, this time off Brennan Hyde's bat to make it a 5-2 Rams' game.
The Bison made things interesting as it put up two runs in the home half of the eight to trim the distance down to one, 5-4. Nichols runs came behind three hits and a passed ball. The host did strand the tying and winning run on the bags thanks to the pitching relief from Patrick Desmond.
A walk and hit by pitch to get the ninth underway forced Nichols to go to its pen and bring in Sean Ryan. The fresh arm got two outs quickly as he fanned Painter swinging and Alex Sorenti-Burns looking. A walk by Braid kept the frame going and allowed insurance to come for the blue-and-gold as Max Martin barreled a two-run single to extend the edge back to three, 7-4.
Suffolk kept with the flair of dramatic endings as a pair of Bison found their way on to bring the tying run to the plate. The Rams defense backed up Desmond and Flynn gloved Nath's long out to center to preserve the conference-opening victory.
PITCHERS PICTURE
- Garret Roberts logged his first win of the season. The right-handed pitcher put together a one-run, two-hit, five-walk, five-strikeout effort over 6.0 innings.
- Desmond picked up the save after shoving 1.2 innings of scoreless work. He let up two hits and two walks and punched out two.
- Jack Raimo (1.1 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 1 BB) saw time on the hill for Suffolk as well.
- Sawyer suffered the setback after giving up seven runs, four earned, on nine hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in 8.0 innings.
- Ryan logged 1.0 inning of scoreless relief with one hit and one walk allowed to go along with three Ks.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Max Martin brought in three runs on two hits.
- Braid collected a pair of RBI on two hits.
- Painter provided two hits, including one double, one RBI, one run scored and one stolen base.
- Flynn registered three runs scored, three stolen bases, one walk and one hit.
- Gilbride notched one hit to go along with three runs scored.
- Sam Armbruster went 2-for-4 at the dish.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk started its CCC calendar in the win column for the second straight season and second time in the history of competing in the conference.
- Suffolk moved to 2-2 in CCC debuts all-time.
- Suffolk began CCC play on the road for the third time, first since 2022.
- The Rams won their first league opening game on the road since 2019 when it bested Norwich, 7-0, to lift the lid on their GNAC schedule.
- Suffolk is now 7-2 in its first league outing in the Anthony Del Prete era.
- Overall, Suffolk is 20-4 in its first conference contest of the year (18-2 GNAC, 2-2 CCC).
- Suffolk is unbeaten, 2-0, when beginning its CCC campaign against Nichols.
- The Rams moved to 21-20 all-time against Nichols with their third consecutive win over the Bison.
- Suffolk is 4-2 versus Nichols under Del Prete's guidance.
- Flynn set a personal-best in runs scored and tied a career-high with three stolen bases.
- Braid had his first multi-hit game in a Suffolk jersey and tied a career-high two RBI.
- Armbruster matched a personal-best two hits.
- Max Martin set a caerer-best in RBI (3) and matched a career-high two hits.
- Roberts moved to 1-1 on the year.
- Desmond had his second collegiate save in as many appearances.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk wraps up its CCC doubleheader with Nichols this afternoon.
