LEESBURG, Fla. – A nine-run, two-out eighth inning Rams rally sent Suffolk baseball to a 16-13 win over North Park Sunday at Pat Thomas Stadium at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 16 | North Park 13
RECORDS: Suffolk (4-2) | North Park (5-6)
HOW IT HAPPENED
A three-run jack by Justin Swanson gave North Park a 3-0 edge in the top of the first.
The Rams responded in the home half of the inning with a pair of solo shots to trim the gap to one. Rams lead off Jonny Gilbride sent the first pitch he sent 365 feet to left center and Harry Painter followed suit with a dinger of his own two batters later.
The Vikings extend the margin back to three with a pair of runs in the second stanza on two hits.
Suffolk was unable to capitalize on the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning to remain in a 5-2 hole.
That score stayed true until the fourth when the blue-and-gold leveled the playing field at 5-all. Sam Armbruster wore a pitch, Alex Sorenti-Burns doubled to left center and Jack Mihalchik walked to chuck the bags. A wild pitch allowed the runners to advance and Armbruster to score. Gilbride then cleared the bases with a one-out single to left center to even things up.
Garret Roberts found himself in a bases load jam, which forced Anthony Del Prete to make, not one, but two changes on the bump. The fresh arms gave up three base hits, all of which brought runs in, and a wild pitch, that allowed a run to score, to put Suffolk in a 10-5 hole after 5.5 frames in the books.
In a case of déjà vu Suffolk needed to answer and Gilbride stepped up to the plate to do so. With Sorenti-Burns on first after walking to start the home half of the sixth, the senior shortstop barreled a homer to left field to chip the deficit to three.
After a scoreless seventh, North Park capitalized on one hit and two Rams errors to extend the margin to 13-7.
The Rams climbed back in the bottom of the eighth as they cycled through the order, forced four Vikings pitching changes and ran off nine runs with two outs. The comeback featured RBIs from Painter (1), Iorio (1), Armbruster (1), Mihalchik (1), Cole Hilliard (1), Gilbride and two by Flynn.
With the lead in Suffolk's favor, Gregory Kaufmann came out of the pen to shutdown North Park and got the job done to help lift the Rams to victory.
PITCHERS PICTURE
- Ian Maude picked up the win with 2.0 innings of relief. He allowed three runs, one earned, on two hits and one walk with a pair of strikeouts.
- Kaufmann logged the save after 1.0 inning of scoreless, hitless relief with one punchout.
- Roberts registered an eight-run, seven-hit, seven-walk, two-strikeout effort over 5.0 innings.
- Cam Martin (0.1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K) and Jack Raimo (0.2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K) came out of the pen for Suffolk as well.
- Griffin Self suffered the setback after giving up four runs on four hits and one walk in just 0.1 frame of work out of the pen.
- Bobby Barlett started and put together a five-run, five-hit, three-walk, four-strikeout performance in the first 5.0 innings.
- Jackson Nuese (2.1 IP, 3 R, 1 H, 3 BB, 2 K), Alex Divito (3 R, 1 H, 2 BB), Jaedon Bader (1 R, 2 BB) and Mason Carlisle (0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB) shoved for the Vikings in relief.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Gilbride had a day at the dish. He went 3-for-3 with two homers to go along with two walks. The right-handed hitter brought in six runs and scored two himself.
- Painter provided two RBI, two hits, one home run, two runs scored and one walk.
- Armbruster compiled a 2-for-3 plate performance with two runs, one RBI and one walk.
- Sorenti-Burns tallied one hit, a double, three runs scored, and two walks.
- Mihalchik contributed three walks, two runs scored and one RBI.
- Hilliard added two runs, two walks and one RBI.
- Flynn finished with two RBI, one hit, one run and one stolen base.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk and North Park met for the first time.
- The Rams knocked multiple homers for the first time since barreling three over the fence in a 13-3, eight-inning win at Lasell, April 13, 2023.
- Painter had his second homer of the season.
- Gilbrilde sent a ball out of the field for the first time this year.
- Gilbride knocked a pair of dingers in the same game for the first time in his college career.
- Gilbride matched a personal-best six RBI and set a career-high in total bases with nine.
- Gilbride and Iorio have successfully hit in all of Suffolk's games this season.
- Mihalchik appeared in the starting line-up for the first time in his collegiate career.
- Mihalchik had career-high numbers in runs (2) and walks (3).
- Flynn tied a personal-best in hits (1), RBI (1) and stolen bases (1).
- Flynn has notched a hit in the last four games.
- Armbruster matched a career-high two hits.
- Hilliard logged the first runs (2) and RBI (1) of his collegiate career and rewrote his career-high in walks with two.
- Sorenti-Burns had his extra-base hit as a Ram.
- Cam Martin made his Suffolk pitching debut.
- Raimo appeared on the hill for the first time in their collegiate careers.
- Maude earned his first collegiate decision on the bump.
- Kaufmann recorded the first save of his Suffolk career.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk is scheduled to face Simpson tomorrow, Monday, March 11 at 9:00 a.m. at Lake Myrtle Park Main Field.
