The Suffolk University Baseball team swept a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) double header from the Lasell College Lasers on Sunday to take a two-game lead in the standings as they head into the final week of regular season action.
Suffolk got a strong performance both on the mound and at the plate in game one from junior Andy Babb (Ashland, Mass.) who picked up his first win of the season on the mound. Babb also connected on his second homer in as many days in the third, a three-run blast that got up in the jet stream and carried out to lead the Rams to a 13-4 victory.
Game two was not so easy for Suffolk as the needed to come from behind in dramatic fashion, scoring nine runs in the top of the seventh to erase a 6-3 deficit for a 12-8 victory.
The Rams cruised in game behind Babb on the mound, who went the distance allowing two earned runs on seven hits, while striking out six.
Senior Bobby Barrett (Milton, Mass.) got the Rams going in the third, with an RBI-double that plated the game’s first run. Two hitters later, Babb would crush a 2-1 fastball sending it high and deep to left to push the Rams lead up to 4-0.
Suffolk added three more runs in the fourth as Barrett drove in a pair more with a single up the middle.
Senior Rory Gentile (Gloucester, Mass.) hit his first homer of the season in the sixth, a two-run blast deep to center as the Rams offense refused to slow down.
Freshman Chris Stanley (Orange County, Calif.) finished the game 2-for-5 with three RBI, while junior Mark Addesa (Revere, Mass.) drove in a pair of runs with a single in the seventh.
Game two did not go as well for the Rams early, as the Lasers were staked out to a 6-1 lead in the third taking advantage of six base on balls issused by starter Jhonneris Mendez.
The Lasers’ Mike Mahoney (Rockland, Mass.) chased Mendez out in the fourth crushing a two-run double to right center with two outs to make it 4-1. Angleo Collucci (Stoneham, Mass.) followed that up with a single back through the middle plating two more Lasers’ runs.
The Rams would answer back in the next half inning as Barrett hit a 2-run homer out to left bringing the score to 6-3.
Sophomore Tim Belanger (Raynham, Mass.) held the Lasers at bay in relief giving the Rams a shot for some late-innings drama.
The Rams almost got their chance to take the lead in the top of the sixth, as they had the bases loaded with two outs and cleanup hitter Marc Doyle (Whitman, Mass.) at bat. Doyle drove a fly ball to the warning track in the center for the final out of the inning.
Suffolk would send twelve hitters to the plate in the seventh, as they grabbed seven hits in the inning.
The Rams were able to load the bases with no outs on back-to-back singles by Mendez and junior Eric Del Buono (Westfield, Mass.). Addesa then put the Rams within a run as he groundball found a hole through the left side of the infield driving in a pair of runners.
Rory Gentile then evened the game up with a single back up through the middle, and Stanley continued to hit well under pressure singling home Addesa to give the Rams the 7-6 edge.
The Rams would continue to hit later in the inning as Doyle drove an opposite field double to the wall in left center bringing home two more runs and then Mendez picked up his second hit of the inning hitting a laser over the right field wall for his second homer of the season to make it 12-6.
Mendez finished the game 4-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored. Suffolk had 14 hits in the game as a team.
The Rams will be back in action on Tuesday as they host UMass-Boston in non-conference action beginning at 3:30pm at Adams Field in Quincy.