The Suffolk University Baseball team swept a non-conference doubleheader over Bates College on Tuesday afternoon at Adams Field in Quincy.
Suffolk took game one 8-2 behind freshman Chuck Gibson (Malden, Mass.) who went six innings for his third victory of the season. In game two, Suffolk scored four unanswered runs to walk off with an 7-6 victory in eight innings as senior Devan Jones (Roslindale, Mass.) delivered the game winning double to score senior James McConville (Medford, Mass.) for the win.
Game One: Suffolk 8 Bates 2
Suffolk sent 10 hitters to the plate in the home half of the first inning scoring five times with two outs to open the game offensively. Jones opened the scoring for Suffolk as his first base hit of the afternoon plated senior Mac Jacobson (Norfolk, Mass.) who led the game off with a base on balls. Sophomore Rob Marks (Revere, Mass.) followed up plating a pair of runs as his single scored two more. Senior Mike Muse (Milton, Mass.) would be the fifth Suffolk hitter to reach base safely in a row as his single scored Jones before junior Justin Knight (Hackettstown, N.J.) capped the frame off with a double down the left field line to make it a 5-1 game after a full inning of play.
Knight would add an RBI single in the third as well for Suffolk as they scored three more times in the inning. Jacobson would score earlier as he came across on a balk, while freshman Matt Brenner (Eliot, Me.) scored on a passed ball.
In his second start of the season, Gibson went six innings allowing just one earned run on five hits to improve to 3-0 on the mound for Suffolk. Junior Mike Masulli (Prospect, Conn.) worked his way out of a self created bases loaded jam in the seventh to preserve the victory.
Bates scored a run in the first to open things as sophomore Samuel Warren (Norfolk, Va.) led the game off with a triple to deep left center. Warren would come around to score later in the inning on a sacrifice fly to right off the bat of senior Kevin Davis (North Andover, Mass.) for the game's first run.
Game Two: Suffolk 7 Bates 6 (8 Innings)
Suffolk would jump out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning as senior Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.) drove in a pair of runs with a bases loaded single. The first three hitters in the inning would all reach base safely as Knight led the inning off with a walk before Jacobson reached on a single which was then followed by another free pass to Muse to set the table. After Cintolo's single scored two, Muse would scamper home later inning the inning on a passed ball to give Suffolk the three run edge.
Bates would answer scoring five runs in the fifth to take a 5-3 lead. Freshman Ryan McCarthy (Plainstow, N.H.) would start things with a base hit to left before senior Griff Tewksbury (Concord, N.H.) followed him with a base hit to right. Davis would then draw a walk to load things with one out. Sophomore Evan Czopek (Portland, Ore.) would bring in two runs with a base hit to left to move the Bobcats within a run. After a fielder's choice to record the second out of the inning Warren would even the game as his pinch hit single brought in Davis to even things up. Freshman Brendan Fox (West Hartford, Conn.) would collect the Bobcats' fifth hit of the inning as his go-ahead single made it a 4-3 game. Bates would tack on a run in their next at bat as junior Adam Parker (Lewiston, Me.) reached on an infield error to score Warren to put the Bobcats up by two runs.
Czopek would collect his third RBI of game two in the sixth inning as he knocked in McCarthy with his second single in as many at bats. McCarthy led the inning off with an infield hit before stealing second. After consecutive strikeouts, Czopek would deliver to two out RBI single to make it a 6-3 Bates lead after five and a half innings of play.
Suffolk would score three times in the seventh inning thanks in large part to three free passes. McConville would start things off with a walk before hit by pitches to sophomore Jon Lapolla (Providence, R.I.) and senior Jack Sullivan (Hamilton, N.Y.) would load the bases with two outs. Junior pinch hitter JC Collette (Amesbury, Mass.) would reach on an infield error as the misplayed groundball brought in the first run of the inning. Jacobson would then deliever the big hit as his single to center plated two runs to even the game at six after seven innings of play.
In the bottom of the eighth, McConville would single to right with one out before Jones delivered the game winning hit as he hit a line drive that sailed out to the centerfield wall to plate the go ahead run.
Junior Dan Shields (Haverhill, Mass.) retired all six hitters he faced in two innings of work to pick up the victory in relief as he moved to a 3-2 record on the season.
Bates put together 10 hits in the nightcap. Czopek was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Tewksbury also recorded multi hits in game two as he was 2-for-4 with a run. He reached base safely eight times in 10 at bats as he drew three walks (two in game one), two hit by pitches and was a combined 3-for-5 in the doubleheader. Warren was 2-for-6 in the two games combined with a pair of runs scored for the Bobcats.
Jones finished the day a combined 4-for-9 in the doubleheader, while Jacobson scored three times.
The losses move Bates to a 19-17 record on the season. They'll be back in action on Wednesday afternoon as they host St. Joseph's College in a non-league twinbill beginning at 11:00am.
Suffolk will open up the 2014 ECAC Division-III New England Championship as the number three seed on Wednesday as they travel to Brandeis University to take on sixth-seeded Lasell College at 6:00pm.