Suffolk baseball, a GNAC powerhouse since joining the ranks in 2000, wanted to regain the conference championship one last time this season and leave the league on top before joining the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) in 2021.
Anthony Del Prete built a 40-game slate with eight 2019 NCAA participants to prepare to be one of the top teams in New England once again.
The Rams season, the 73rd in program history, started in Boston for the first time since 2016 with a battle at then-No. 14 UMass Boston.
A back-and-forth battle needed extra time to determine a winner though and the Beacons broke down the blue-and-gold’s staff in the tenth to walk-off with the win.
From there it was down to the Sunshine state for a 10-game stretch over five days at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.For the first time under Del Prete all of the Rams contests in Florida would be doubleheaders.
Suffolk split the first two days against Dickinson and Westfield State before sweeping Fitchburg State on the third day of action down south.
With two days off and the world changing on an hourly basis due to COVID-19, the season, which had so many goals and milestones left to achieve, faced a question mark.
The uneasiness of the unknown was brought between the lines in the twinbill with Greenville, which allowed the Panthers to down the Rams in both battles.
That night the NCAA announced the cancellation of all championships for the remainder of 2020 and the next morning, while Suffolk was in vans to its Florida finale, the GNAC followed suit.
Suffolk's doubleheader with Ursinus was the last two games left on its Spring Break trip and it wanted to close out the season, which would end much too early, on a high note. Ursinus had other things in mind in the opener, however, and took the opener, 9-3. The closer was a different story though.
The Bears scored in the top of the first before Luke Harder’s solo shot evened the score in second. The 1-all tie remained through seven innings of regulation, which resulted in Suffolk’s season ending the same way it started, in extras.
An ending it was and a storybook one at that as Steven Rossi retired the side in the top of the eighth to set-up Tim Brigham’s heroic walk-off in the home half of the inning, a true exclamation point on the graduate student’s career and the campaign.
THROUGH THE LENS
A WALK-OFF FOR THE CAPTAIN
It was Friday, March 13 when the world of sports was changed. Cancelations due to the COVID-19 pandemic hit the nation. The NCAA canceled March Madness that evitability led to the entire winter and spring seasons halting for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year.
Scott Van Pelt, ESPN anchor, acknowledged that "so many college and high school athlete saw their seasons, maybe playing careers, just … end. No send off, no nothing," in a Twitter thread last Friday.
Many athletes may have played their last games without even realizing it. They won't have a chance to savor their final moments on the court, on the mat, or on the field.
To celebrate the athlete's stories, he asked the community to share stories, photos and videos to celebrate them in a Senior Night segment.
Suffolk baseball captain Tim Brigham was one of these athletes.
No, we're not talking about Derek Jeter. Tim Brigham total 17 plate appearances as a sophomore for Suffolk University in 2017. By 2019, he was a D3Baseball.com All-New England Honorable Mention who hit .390 with 45 RBI in 42 games. He was a graduate student this year, and in his final game, he hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning.
SENIORS SAY GOOD-BYE
With the cancellation of college sports on March 13, Suffolk's seniors saw not only the year end, but their collegiate careers. Once arriving back in Beantown from their Spring Break trip, they took to social media to share what Suffolk baseball meant to them and some even announced their plans to return to Ram Nation.
What you see here (mentioning a team photo) is the best twenty nine young men you'll ever meet in your life. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Logan heckman
Definitely not the way I wanted things to end. I really loved playing with this team and my brothers. We were just getting started.
Rich gilbride
Life's too short to not do what you love ... let's ride. Thanks NCAA for another year to be a kid #MuttsTotheMoon
tim brigham
rams reflects
In first person narratives, Suffolk's seniors had a chance to look back on their time as Suffolk student-athletes in Rams Reflections.
It's been a wild ride to say the least ... it's been a pleasure. The fight never leaves. Down by one in the ninth? Good. We will put up three. You tied it up to go into extras? Good. We will just add four more. You're an interesting group of individuals that were brought together, but I wouldn't change it for the world.