AUBURNDALE, Fla. – In its RussMatt Central Florida Invitational finale, the No. 24 Suffolk baseball team fell to 13th-ranked TCNJ, 6-5, in 10 innings Saturday afternoon at Chain O'Lakes Field. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: #24 Suffolk 5, #13 TCNJ 6
RECORDS: #24 Suffolk (4-5) | #13 TCNJ (7-3) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
After four scoreless innings Suffolk broke open the game in the top of the fifth. Matt Brenner, who singled to left field to lead off, moved to sac on a sac bunt by BJ Neil and came in on a single by Sean Cameron to make it a 1-0 Rams game. 

The blue-and-gold stretched their edge to two in its next go at the plate. This time, Brenner brought the run in on a single, plating Luke Ronchi, who reached on a single of his own. The Lions responded with a run of their own in the home half of the sixth to close the gap to 2-1 after six complete frames. 

Both sides scored twice in the seventh. Suffolk's runs came thanks to a double from Brady Chant, which brought in Cameron, who was hit by a pitch, and a bases loaded fly out from Seth Coiley, which scored Chant. 

Despite TCNJ's two scores in the bottom half of the seventh, Suffolk held onto a one-run lead heading into the bottom half of the ninth. With two outs on the board, relief arm Mark Fusco walked Ben Varone before singles from Thomas Persichetti and Patrick Anderson brought the tying run in. 

Suffolk saw a bases loaded situation in the top of the 10th and took advantage. Cameron grounded out to third allowing Zach Aresty to come home to take the lead, 5-4.   

The Lions bats started from the get go of the bottom half of the inning, but they earned the win thanks to two Rams errors. A mistake by Fusco saw the tying run cross home, before an error by Suffolk's shortstop gave TCNJ the 6-5 win. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Suffolk put together an 11-hit day off six different Rams' bats.
• Coiley led the way with a 3-for-4 performance at the dish with one RBI.
• Cameron put together a 3-for-5 effort at the plate with two RBI and one run scored to go along with one stolen base.
• Brenner went 2-for-3, bringing one run in and scoring one himself. The senior catcher also had five putouts in the field.
• Chant was the lone Ram to produce an extra-base hit with a double as the junior centerfielder contributed one RBI and one run.
• Neil and Ronchi rounded out Rams with hits, tallying one apiece, with Ronchi adding one run. 

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Chuck Gibson went 8.2 innings on the mound for the Rams, letting up three runs on seven hits with three Ks.
• In 2.1 innings of relief, Fusco allowed three runs, one earned, off four hits.
• Michael Fischer earned the win for the Lions. In 7.0 innings of work, the hurler gave up four runs on nine hits and sat down seven batters.
• Matt Curry picked up the save with one run allowed on two hits in 3.0 innings of action. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk played its second extra inning out of the season and second on its Florida trip.
• The Rams moved to 5-2 in extra innings under Anthony Del Prete. 

POST-GAME PIC

WHAT'S NEXT
Suffolk heads to a snow covered New England where it is scheduled to open the home portion of its schedule Tuesday, March 21 versus Bridgewater State at East Boston Memorial Park at 3:30 p.m.