SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – In a back-and-forth affair, Suffolk baseball game out on the wrong end of a 6-5 decision to Western New England in the first game of a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) doubleheader at Trelease Park.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 5 | Western New England 6
RECORDS: Suffolk (16-15, 2-8 CCC) | Western New England (14-12-1, 5-5 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Down three runs after the first inning, Suffolk scored one in the second and two in the third to level the playing field. Timothy McCarthy's double to right center scored Luke Harder, who singled, to put the blue-and-gold on the board. An inning later, Joe Ward and Harder brought in a run each on a single and sac fly, respectively.  

In the fifth, the Rams took the lead. Ward waited on third after reaching on an error and moving over behind Harry Painter's single and Marc Birbiglia's sacrifice bunt. Harder had a hand in the run as his ground out to second brought Ward in to push Suffolk ahead, 4-3.  

WNE went ahead by one in the home half of the inning and grabbed a multi-run margin, 6-4, in the sixth. 

Back-to-back Golden Bears errors allowed the Rams to pull back within. Both miscues came with two outs and put runners in the corners in time for Ward to knock an RBI single to right center.

EJ Birch and Michael James Jr. combined for a shutdown bottom of the eighth to keep Suffolk within striking distance.  

Jared Kuryan did his job for the Golden Bears and closed the door on the Rams with a three-up, three-down inning.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Garret Roberts registered the loss after giving up five runs on eight hits and seven walks with six strikeouts through 5.0 innings. 
• Birch compiled a one-run, two-hit outing in 2.2 innings. 
• James struck out the only batter he faced. 
• Kevin Hummer earned the decision after a four-run (three-earned), eight-hit, two-walk, five-strikeout outing in 6.0 innings. 
• Ryan Searles tossed a 1.0 inning of scoreless relief with two hits allowed. 
• Kuryan tallied the save behind a one-run, one-hit, three-strikeout performance in 2.0 innings of action.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Ward notched two hits, two RBI and two runs scored. 
• Harder brought in two runs on one hit and a sac fly to go along with one run scored. 
• McCarthy recorded two hits, including one double, and brought in one run. 
• Painter provided a pair of hits. 
• Jonny Gilbride and Christian Seariac both supplied one hit and one run.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Roberts matched a career-high six strikeouts.
• Ward has had multiple hits and RBI in back-to-back games.  
• Painter pushed his hit streak to eight games.
• Gilbride extended his hit streak to 11.
• Seariach stretched his hit streak to four. 

POST-GAME PIC

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk and Western New England close the conference twinbill this afternoon.