Quincy, Mass. – The Suffolk University Baseball team (20-13 overall) topped Emerson College (15-19 overall), 5-2 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon. Senior Marc Doyle (Whitman, Mass.) pitched seven innings on the mound to pick up his fifth win of the season, and was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI as the Rams advance into the winner’s bracket of the four-team double elimination tournament.
Doyle was strong once again, fanning 10 Lions’ hitters allowing seven hits over seven innings of work only allowing one earned run. It was the first earned run Doyle has allowed over his past five starts, snapping a consecutive scoreless innings streak of 31 innings, and the first earned run Doyle has allowed all season against a GNAC opponent.
The Rams jumped out early scoring in the first as sophomore Chris Stanley (Orange County, Calif.) drove in the first run of the game with an RBI-single to right. Senior Rory Gentile (Gloucester, Mass.) got the Suffolk offense started with his team-leading 11th double of the season.
The Rams would add two more runs in the third inning as Stanley led the inning off with a double to left center. Doyle would then line a single into center with one out plating Stanley to make it 2-0. After an infield error and a single by freshman Jhonneris Mendez (Roslindale, Mass.), junior Mark Annese (Winchester, Mass.) plated a run bouncing into a fielder’s choice with the bases load to score Doyle.
Emerson got on the board in the fifth as junior Nick Vennochi (Melrose, Mass.) lined a single into right with the bases loaded and one out. Doyle would work out of trouble getting a key strike out and then picking up the inning ending force out on a groundball to second base to elude trouble.
Suffolk answered in the home half of the fifth as Barrett led the inning off with his team-leading sixth triple of the season. After an 11-pitch at bat, Doyle flied out to center bringing Barrett in on the sacrifice fly to put the Rams back up by three runs.
Barrett and Doyle would again get the offense going for Suffolk in the bottom half of the seventh as both hit back to back singles making it first and third and nobody out and chasing Lions’ starter Conor McDonough (Hanson, Mass.). Junior Andrew Babb (Ashland, Mass.) would ground into a double play later in the inning as Barrett would score on the play making it 5-1.
Things would get a little uneasy for the Rams in the top half of the eighth as sophomore Ryan Garber (Holmdel, N.J.) led the inning off with an infield single. Sophomore Dexter Garcia (Westport, Conn.) then doubled down the right field line putting two runners in scoring position with nobody out as Suffolk summoned closer Jhonneris Mendez into the game. Mendez got out of the jam, only allowing a run to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of pinch-hitter freshman Jonah Francese (Sharon, Mass.) as he retired the three hitters he faced that inning.
Mendez would pitch a scoreless ninth picking up his third save of the season.
Suffolk collected 12 hits on the day as a team, as Suffolk’s 2-3-4 of Stanley, Barrett and Doyle each had a pair of hits. Mendez was 2-for-4 with the bat as well.
Sophomore Geoff Lopes (Falmouth, Mass.) was 3-for-5 on the day for the Lions who had 10 hits as team, but stranded 11 runners in the game. Garcia and senior Peter Karl (Wallingford, Conn.) also had two hits a piece for Emerson.
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament will continue this weekend on Saturday at Pierce Memorial Stadium in East Providence, R.I..Emerson will play in the elimination game at 10:00am as they take on host Johnson & Wales University. The top-seeded Suffolk University will take on second seeded St. Joseph’s College (Me.) in the winner’s bracket game at 1:00pm.