BOSTON – Suffolk knocked two balls out of the park, but it would not be enough to take down Emmanuel, who picked up a 5-3 GNAC series opening victory over the Rams Thursday night at Clemente Field.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Emmanuel 5
RECORDS: Suffolk (15-13, 5-2 GNAC) | Emmanuel (18-11, 9-0 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk's first long ball of the day opened the scoring as Jaclyn Flint barreled a two-out, two-run bomb in the top of the first to give the Rams a 2-0 cushion.
Emmanuel made it a new ball game in the bottom of the second with a pair of its own runs before adding two more an inning later to go ahead by two. The Saints added more to the margin in the home half of the fourth with a two-out, one-run single to blossom its advantage to 5-2.
The Rams looked to make a comeback, but were limited to just one base runner over the fifth and sixth frame to remain in a three-run hole. With one dead, pinch hitter Riley Mulligan sparked Suffolk's offense with a lead-off homer to left center to pull the blue-and-gold back within two. The Rams could not rally behind the rookie's dinger and the Saints secured the next two outs to take the victory.
PITCHERS PICTURE
- Constance Phelan dipped to 3-3 on the year after giving up five runs on seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts over 5.0 innings.
- Hannah DelCervo came in in relief. She limited Emmanuel to one hit and one walk over her 1.0 inning of work in which she sat down two batters.
- Megan Kieselback went the distance for the Saints. She put together a three-run, five-hit, one-walk, 12-strikeout, complete-game performance.
STATISTISCALLY SPEAKING
- Flint's and Mulligan's only hits of the day each went over the fence. The former was responsible for two RBI and one run, while the latter had one run and one RBI.
- Murphy registered one hit, one run and two stolen bases.
- McKenzie McGrath added one hit.
NOTEWORTHY
- Mulligan hit her first collegiate homer.
- Phelan sat down a career-high six batters.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Emmanuel and Suffolk conclude the two-game conference series under the lights.
