EAST BOSTON – Suffolk rallied in the fifth, but it would not be enough to take down Western New England as the Golden Bears got past the Rams, 9-3, in the nightcap of a Commonwealth Coast Conference doubleheader Saturday at East Boston Memorial Park.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Western New England 9
RECORDS: Suffolk (6-11, 2-5 CCC) | Western New England (15-5-1, 3-2 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
After WNE put up a five-spot in the top of the fifth, extra-base Suffolk hits trimmed the deficit down to two in the home half of fifth, 5-3. Marc Birbiglia barreled a one-out, ground-rule double down the left field line to set up Joe Ward's two-run shot to the opposite side of the diamond. Luke Harder kept the rally going with a double to left field before Max Iorio traded places with Harder on a two-bagger of his own to right center. 

The Golden Bears extended their edge to 9-3 behind a four-run seventh that came behind four hits, a sac fly and a Rams error.  

Suffolk stranded a pair in the seventh and ninth, respectively, which held the score still and sealed the setback.  

PITCHERES PICTURE

• George Breslin took the loss after giving up five runs on nine hits and fouru walksk witih a pair of punchouts over 4.0 ininngs. 
• Pierce Salbego shoved 3.0 innings of relief. He allowed four runs, one earned, on four hits and two walks. 
• Shreyas Parikh and Jake Washock both threw 1.0 inning of scoreless hitless relief. Both walked two hitters. 
• Jared Kuryan picked up the win for WNE with a three-run, seven-hit, no-walk, seven-strikeout effort in 6.0 innings. 
• Sean Hogan logged 2.0 innings of scoreless relief with one hit and one walk allowed and three Ks. 
• Andrew Melone closed. He walked two batters and fanned one in his single inning of work. 

STATISICALLY SPEAKING

• Birbiglia went 3-for-4 with one run. His stat line featured one double. 
• Harder had two hits, both for extra bases, a double and triple, and one run scored. 
• Ward brought in two runs on his hit, a homer and scored once. 
• Iorio chipped in a 2-for-3 effort with one double and one RBI.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Birbiglia matched a career-high three hits. 
• Ward had his second homer of the season. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk has two days off to prep for its Tuesday, April 11 tilt versus Gordon. First pitch of that CCC contest in Eastie is set for 3:30 p.m.