MILTON, Mass. – In what was a see-saw affair, Suffolk baseball struck at the right time with two runs in the top of the ninth to go ahead for good and defeat Curry, 6-5, Wednesday night at Jack Valley Diamond.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 6 | Curry 5
RECORDS: Suffolk (21-11-1) | Curry (9-19-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Trailing 1-0 after Curry produced one run in the first, Suffolk evened the playing field in the opening of the second stanza. Will Hopkins' lead-off double was followed by a Tim Brigham base-hit up the middle that scored the game-tying run.
Things did not remain equal for long as the Colonels connected for a two-out, two-run rally in the home half of the second to grab a 3-1 cushion.
Suffolk made moves in the fourth as three runs came in on three hits. Trevor Lee got things going with a single up the middle, move to second on Blase Cormier's walk and scored on Hopkins' single through the left side. One out and a wild pitch later, Rich Giandrea scored Cormier on a sac fly before Hopkins took advantage of the second wild pitch of the inning to put the Rams in front, 4-3.
The back-and-forth carried into the fifth in Curry's favor as Adam Durante's two-run double regained the advantage for the Colonels 5-4.
It was a standstill from there with Suffolk unable to capitalize on a handful of base runners, setting up the comeback ninth. With one down, Shane Lake wore a pitch, Connor Troio drew a walk and Rich Gilbride chucked the bags with a a single down the right field line. Lee plated the tying-run on a sac fly, that scored lake, before Cormier's double to right brought in Zack Aresty, who ran for Troio, and gave Suffolk the advantage, 6-5.
With Suffolk ahead by one, Parker Browne locked up the win by retiring the side to keep Curry from coming back.
PITCHERS PICTURE
- Browne earned the win with just one hit allowed over 4.2 innings of relief work and six strikeouts to his credit.
- George Breslin started on the hill. Over 4.1 frames, he let up five runs on seven hits and six walks and sat down three batters.
- Zachary Wensley suffered the setback after allowing two runs on two hits and one walk with one K in 2.0 innings.
- Philip Ledwith started the action for the Colonels and gave up four runs on five hits and one walk with two punchouts.
- Daniel Coughlin also worked the mound for Curry with 3.0 innings of scoreless work with four hits and one walk allowed to go with one K.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Lee, Cormier, Hopkins and Brigham each had two-hit performances.
- Cormier and Hopkins both struck for one double.
- Hopkins scored twice, while Lee, Cormier, Lake and Aresty were each responsible for one run apiece.
- Lee, Cormier, Hopkins, Brigham and Giandrea all had one RBI to their credit.
- Brigham swiped one bag.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk won its third straight game versus the Colonels to move to 32-8 all-time against Curry.
- The Rams improved to 4-1 against Curry in the Anthony Del Prete era.
- Browne matched a career-high six strikeouts to move to 3-1 on the season.
COMING UP
Suffolk and Norwich wrap up the two-game series tonight.