STANDISH, Maine – Trailing 1-0 heading into the seventh inning, the Suffolk baseball team rallied a comeback, plating two and handling the Monks to seal up a 2-1 win at Larry Mahaney Diamond Saturday afternoon.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 2, #19/24 St. Joseph's (Maine) 1
RECORDS: Suffolk (18-9, 9-1 GNAC) | #19/24 St. Joseph's (Maine) (24-6, 7-1 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
After 3.5 scoreless innings, St. Joe's broke things open in the home half of the fourth to take a 1-0 edge. The score stood still for the next two innings with the Rams heading into the top of the seventh trailing similar to game one. This time, however, Suffolk was able to make a comeback and do so in go-ahead fashion, grabbing a 2-1 lead.
Seth Coiley wore a pitch to start things off and was replaced on the bags by Zach Grogan. A sac bunt by Matt Brenner moved the pinch runner over and Curtis Tirone's single to left field brought in the tying run. A ground out from Luke Ronchi put Tirone in scoring position and the sophomore third baseman came in thanks to a single off Kevin Belskie's bat.
With a one run lead, Suffolk sealed up the win, allowing just one walk in the bottom half of the inning to take game 2, 2-1, and split the series.
STATISCALLY SPEAKING
- Tirone's 1-for-3, one-RBI, one-run day led the way for the Rams. He brought in the tying run and scored the go-ahead point.
- Belskie's one hit was the most crucial one, bringing in the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh.
- Speliotis had a 1-for-1 pinch hitter effort with Brady Chant tallying one hit on the afternoon.
PITCHERS PICTURE
- Chuck Gibson went the distance to lock up the win. The senior hurler allowed just one run on five hits with five strikeouts through 7.0 innings.
- Relief arm Josh Partirdge suffered the setback, giving up wo runs on four hits in the final 2.1 frames with three strikeouts.
- St. Joe's starter Matt Demma dealt 4.2 scoreless innings with two Ks and one walk.
NOTEABLE
- Suffolk and St. Joe's split for the fourth straight season with the Rams and Monks each taking one game each in the two-game series under Anthony Del Prete for the past three seasons.
- The Rams earned their sixth one-run victory this season with the contest being their eighth-game decided by one-run in 2017.
COMING UP
Suffolk is back in action tomorrow at East Boston Memorial Park as it hosts Lasell at 4 p.m.