DAVENPORT, Fla. – Behind a first-inning grand slam off Sam Armbruster's bat, Suffolk baseball built an early advantage and never looked back en route to a 9-2 victory over St. Scholastica in the opener of a twinbill at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational at NorthEast Regional Park.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 9 | St. Scholastica 2
RECORDS: Suffolk (1-2) | St. Scholastica (1-2) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk posted a lopsided first frame to jump out to an early 5-0 cushion. The offense came behind a monster two-out grand slam by Sam Armbruster. The junior slugged a ball over the left field fence after Alex Sorenti-Burns wore one, Max Iorio singled and Max Martin walked to chuck the bags. Sebastian Lampert and Will Robbins kept the offense going with a base hit and a walk in time for Cole Hilliard to collect an RBI with a single up the middle that gave the blue-and-gold its fifth run of the day.  

Base hits and a St. Scholastica error allowed Suffolk to stretch its cushion to nine three innings later. Iorio and Max Martin both brought in one run each on singles, an Armbruster sac fly allowed Iorio to score and Hilliard wore a pitch with all the ducks in the pond to plate Max Martin. That rally made it 9-0 Rams with four frames in the books. 

The Saints made their way onto the scoreboard in the top of the seventh with a two-run jack from Jack Tiemann that made it a 9-2 game. Pierce Salbego and the Rams defense held St. Scholastica there thanks to a backwards K and an out in foul territory gloved by Chris Cimino.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Salbego compiled a two-run, eight-hit, no-walk, eight-strikeout, complete-game effort. 
• Payton Jeffries took the loss after giving up eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 3.1 frames. 
• Zeke Walton (0.2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 K), Jonah Johnson (1.0 IP, 2 BB, 1 K) and Garrett Green (1.0 IP, 1 K) all came out of the pen for the Saints.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Armbruster's lone hit of the day was a grand slam. He recorded five RBI on that bomb and one sac fly and scored one run. 
• Iorio went 2-for-3 with one RBI, one walk and two runs scored. 
• Lampert compiled a 2-for-3 effort at the dish with one walk and one run. 
• Max Martin tallied two runs, one hit, one RBI and one walk. 
• Sorenti-Burns supplied two runs, one hit and one walk. 
• Cimino chipped in one hit and one to the offense as well.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk defeated St. Scholastica for the first time. 
• The Rams moved to 1-1 all-time versus the Saints. 
• Both battles between Suffolk and St. Scholastica came on a neutral diamond. 
• Armbruster knocked his third homer of his collegiate career, first since rocking one out of the park at in the nightcap at UMass Dartmouth April 6, 2024. 
• Armbruster is the first Ram to have a grand slam since Jonny Gilbride notched one in the 12-3 CNE First-Round victory over Wentworth May 7, 2024. 
• Armbruster brought in a career-high five RBI. 
• Lampert had his first multi-hit game of his collegiate career. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk aims to sweep the twinbill with the Saints tonight at NE Regional Park.