Baseball Splits GNAC Twinbill With Norwich

Baseball Splits GNAC Twinbill With Norwich

The Suffolk University and Norwich University Baseball teams split a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) double header on Saturday afternoon. Suffolk put together a 15-hit offensive attack in the opener to take a game one victory, 12-4. Sophomore Brian Whaley (St. Louis, Mo.) would quiet the Suffolk bats in game two though throwing a complete game four-hitter for his first victory of the season on the mound in a 5-3 Norwich win.

Game One

Five Suffolk players recorded a multi-hit contest in the opener in a 12-4 victory. Senior Devan Jones (Roslindale, Mass.) led the way going 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI.

Suffolk opened up a 5-0 led in the top of the third inning. With two outs, junior JC Collette (Amesbury, Mass.) belted his second home run of the season for the game's first runs. Suffolk would send 10 hitters to the plate in the inning as they put together a five hit inning. Sophomore Rob Marks (Revere, Mass.) drove in Jones with a run scoring single later in the frame, before junior Justin Knight (Hackettstown, N.J.) capped the inning off with a two-run single.
 

Freshman Luke Ronchi (Randolph, N.J.) hit his second home run of the year to lead off the fourth inning to make it a 6-1 contest.

Suffolk would tack on six more in the second with Knight coming through with his second base hit of the day to drive in two more runs. Knight finished game one with a team-high four RBI.
Senior Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.) also added an RBI single earlier in the inning as he was 2-for-3 in the opener.
Norwich would not go quietly as they scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Sophomore Billy Whaley (Northfield, Vt.) connected on his second home run of the season with one out in the inning. Senior Charles Schaub (East Hampton, Conn.) would add an RBI single later in the inning.
Whaley and Schaub combined for six of Norwich's eight hits in game one. Whaley finished the opener just a triple shy of the cycle as he was 3-for-4. Schaub was a perfect 3-for-3 while scoring a run and adding a stolen base.
Senior Steve Chamberland (Bristol, Conn.) improved his record to 3-1 on the mound for Suffolk. Chamberland struck out three through six innings of run while scattering nine hits. Junior Paul Pollano (North Andover, Mass.) pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
 

Game Two

Norwich took game two 5-3 behind Brian Whaley, who earned his first victory of the season on the mound for the Cadets.

Norwich jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first at-bat. Freshman LaShawn Thomas (San Antonio, Tx.) opened the game with a double to left. After a single through the right side by senior Sean Gerich (Chicago, Ill.), Thomas came around to score the game's first run on a ground out by sophomore Brian Baker (Keene, N.H.). Freshman Travis Jacques (Peabody, Mass.) would draw a bases loaded walk later in the inning to stake the Cadets to the early edge.
 

Schaub would continue his hot streak at the plate when he belted his first home run of the season to left, a two-run shot to make it a 4-0 game.

Suffolk would load the bases in the fifth inning with nobody out, but could only bring in two runs due to an errant infield throw. Cintolo grounded to short with one out to bring home senior Jack Sullivan (Hamilton, N.Y.) who led the inning off with a walk. Knight would come around to score on the play as well when the throw sailed over the first base bag, cutting the Cadets' lead in half.
 

Jones would make it a 4-3 game in the sixth inning as he led off with a solo homer, his second of the season but that was as close as Suffolk would get.

Norwich would tack on some insurance in the sixth as Billy Whaley brought home a run with a sacrifice fly to right plating Gerich who started the scoring with a one out walk.
 

The split leaves Norwich at a 5-10 overall mark on the season and 3-6 record in GNAC play.

Suffolk drops their first conference game of the season and is 9-1 after Saturday and 14-8-1 overall.
Both teams will be back in GNAC action on Sunday afternoon.
Norwich will travel to Rivier University for a GNAC twinbill with the Raiders beginning at 1:05pm.
 

Suffolk hosts Johnson & Wales University at noon at Adams Field in Quincy.