AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Suffolk baseball's bats got going Monday afternoon as the Rams knocked 11 hits to score double digit runs to being the doubleheader with Fitchburg State in the win column, defeating the Falcons, 10-5 at Lake Myrtle Field.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 10 | Fitchburg State 5
RECORDS: Suffolk (4-3) |Fitchburg State (2-4)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Blase Cormier collected his first of what would be three RBI on the day in the bottom of the first with a ground out to second that scored Nik San Antonio to begin the scoring. San Antonio, who reached on a hit by pitch, stole second and landed on third when Rich Gilbride struck a single through the left side.  

The Falcons evened the score in the next half inning and took its first lead of the day in the top of the third.  

A Rams response came in the home half of that inning to quickly lock matters for the second time of the day at 2-all. Logan Heckman barreled a one-out double to right center before moving over on San Antonio's single to left center. A sac fly to left brought in Heckman to keep things close.  

Suffolk made moves in the fourth after retiring the side. The five-run frame started off with a double to left center by Zack Aresty. Two walks later, Luke Harder logged a double down the right field line to bring two runners in. With runners on second and third, a wild pitch allowed the third run of the inning come home and San Antonio's ground out to second scored the fourth. The rally kept going as Gilbride knocked a single to left and swiped second and Cormier brought him in with a single up the middle to make things lopsided for the blue-and-gold, 7-2.  

Fitchburg State answered with three runs of their own in the fifth to trim the margin back to a pair, 7-5.

More Suffolk scoring came in the sixth to put the game just out of reach for the Falcons. Cormier continued to have a day as he helped San Antonio round the bags for the second time, this time with a double down the left field line. A pitching change did not help Fitchburg as an error by the Falcons' left fielder NAME during Ben Isaak's at bat allowed the third run of the inning come in that turned it back into a five-run contest, 10-5.  

The Falcons began the top of the sixth with a walk to ignite a comeback. A fly out to center was preceded a 543 double play though that sealed the deal for Suffolk. 

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Starter EJ Birch logged the win after a five-run, four-earned, 10-hit, three-walk, three-strikeout, 5.0-inning outing. 
• Rich Giandrea closed out the contest. The reliever threw 2.0 scoreless innings and gave up just one walk. 
• Aidan Ward suffered the setback after letting up seven runs on eight hits and two walks with five punchouts. 
• Evan Meleedy saw 1.2 frames in which he allowed three runs, two earned, on two hits, one walk and one K. 
• Joseph Powers (0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 Ks) came out of the pen for Fitchburg State as well.  

STATISTCALLY SPEAKING

• Cormier went 3-for-4 at the dish with three RBI, one run scored and one double. 
• Gilbride and San Antonio both went 2-for-3 at the plate. The former scored twice, had two stolen bases and one RBI. The latter chipped in one RBI, one run, one stolen base and one sac fly. 
• Heckman and Aresty each had one hit, a double, and scored once. 
• Harder produce one-RBI double and one run. 
• Isaak chipped in one hit and one RBI. 
• Tim Brigham, Gino Desimone and Andrew Ashworth all scored one run.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk defeated Fitchburg State for the first time since a 10-4 decision March 15, 2019. 
• The Rams improved to 17-6 all-time versus the Falcons. 
• Suffolk moved to 3-1 against Fitchburg State under Anthony Del Prete. 
• Harder knocked his first collegiate hit. 
• Cormier had his second three-hit, three-RBI game of the season. Overall, he has had five games with multiple hits this year. 
• San Antonio matched a career-high two hits and set a career-best two stolen bases.  
• Birch struck out a personal-best three hitters.  

POST-GAME PIC
 

LOOKING AHEAD
Suffolk concludes the doubleheader with Fitchburg State.