The Suffolk University Baseball team (17-13 overall, 9-3 GNAC) swept a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) double header downing the Lasell College Lasers (18-12 overall, 6-6 GNAC) twice on a chilly Wednesday afternoon at Adams Field in Quincy.
Senior Andrew Babb (Ashland, Mass.) hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth in game one, while pitchers Mitch Monke (Springfield, Ohio) and Alex Torres (Framingham, Mass.) combined to allow one earned run in 16 innings against the Lasers.
Monke got himself in and out of trouble in the first inning of game one and then cruised the final eight innings for his third win of the season. The Lasers were able to load up the bases in the opening frame as junior Matt Mahoney (Rockland, Mass.) laced the first pitch of the game back up the middle. Sophomore Bobby Stachura (Middletown, Conn.) then connected on a single and senior Conor Cavanagh (Quincy, Mass.) had an infield hit to load the bases with one out. Freshman Billy Uberti (Newton, Mass.) then drove home the game's first run with a two-out infield single.
Monke settled down after that however only allowing two hits over the next eight innings, retiring the final nine hitters he faced to nail down the win. Monke fanned eight Lasers hitters, while only walking one for his first complete game of the season.
Senior Mark Annese (Winchester, Mass.) opened the scoring for the Rams with an RBI single to center in the bottom half of the first.
The Rams would continue to threaten all game but could not find the big hit until the ninth when freshman Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.) had a two-out RBI double to bring the winning run into scoring position.
Babb would then send the winning run home with a line drive single to right center to plate Cintolo for the victory.
Junior Joshua Sullivan (Rockland, Mass) pitched 8 1/3 innings of one run baseball for the Lasers before being pulled in the ninth. Sophomore Mike Rodriguez (Brockton, Mass.) took the loss in relief.
In game two the Rams were able to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead. Babb started game two right where he left off plating Cintolo with an RBI single before coming around to score as Annese got another big hit early hitting a double to deep left. Freshman Michael Muse (Milton, Mass.) then capped the inning with a single to left field.
The Lasers threatened in inning number one just as they did in the opener, this time however Torres slammed the door early escaping a bases loaded threat with a strikeout. With two outs the Lasers were able to put together back to back singles by Sullivan and Cavanagh before both runners advanced into scoring position on a passed ball. A walk to Uberti would load the bases but Torres would escape the jam putting away the final out of the inning in just three pitches.
The Lasers would put runners on base all day as they had eight hits in the game. Both Sullivan and Cavanagh were 3-for-4 in the nightcap, but Torres would work his way out of trouble making big pitch after big pitch for his second consecutive shutout.
Annese added his second RBI double of the game in the third, while Babb added another RBI single in the fourth for the Rams who collected 11 hits in the second game.
Cintolo finished the game 3-for-4 with three runs scored, while Babb was also 3-for-4 scoring twice along with the two RBI.
Both teams will be back in non-conference action on Thursday. Lasell will host UMass-Boston at 7:00pm, while the Rams host Endicott College at 6:00pm.