AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Brett Bucklin took a no-hitter into the sixth and the Rams scored early and often to help Suffolk baseball take down Mt. St. Joseph, 12-4, Wednesday morning at Lake Myrtle Park at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 12 | Mt. St. Joseph 4
RECORDS: Suffolk (6-2) | Mt. St. Joseph (4-7)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk jumped out to a 10-run lead in the first three frames as the Rams tallied three-plus runs in the first, second and third.
All nine Rams in the line-up made a plate appearance in the top of the first that saw three runs go on the board. The scoring started on a wild pitch in the top of the first as Jonny Gilbride came in. Three hit by pitches, two Lions errors and one base hit by Max Martin brought two more runs in for the 3-0 Suffolk score early on.
MSJ quickly made a change on the hill after a lead-off single from Roberts and a walk by Gilbride. The new arm was no match for Max Iorio, however, as the junior center slugged a three-run dinger to right field to double the distance in the second.
Back-to-back one-out walks set up Roberts' single RBI. Cole Hilliard, who walked, scored on a wild pitch, and Painter produced two RBI on a base hit through the right side to extend the Rams' advantage to 10-0 thorugh 2.5.
Scoring stayed quiet until the sixth when MSJ broke onto the board. Andrew Harrison got hit at the plate to take first and Brennan Martin erased the no-hitter with a RBI double to right center. Kevn Schaaf followed with an extra base hit of his own when he sent the ball over the left field fence to cut Suffolk's cushion to seven, 10-3.
The Rams got two runs back in the seventh. With two down and runners on first and second, Iorio cleared the bags with a triple to right field to extend the margin back to nine, 12-3.
The Lions responded with one run in the home half of the inning to make it 12-4 where the score stayed at the final out.
PITCHERS PICTURE
- Bucklin earned the decision behind 6.0 innings of work. He allowed three runs on three hits and one walk and fanned five.
- Billy Benkeke allowed one run on two walks in his 1.0 frame out of the pen.
- Cam Martin put together 1.0 inning of scoreless, hitless relief.
- Jack Raimo closed and put together a one-hit, one-strikeout scoreless effort.
- It was a staff day for MSJ. Jeff Kist started (4 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K) with Nolan Miller (6 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K) and Ryan Caulfield (2 H, 2 Ks) working 2.0 innings apiece. Lleyton Flamm (2 R, 5 H, 1 K) saw the most time on the rubber with 3.0 innings and Brendan Hosler closed with two punchouts in the final frame, a scoreless, hitless outing.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Iorio brought in five runs on two hits, a home run and a triple, and scored two runs himself.
- Roberts recorded three hits, two runs scored and one RBI.
- Gilbride went 2-for-3 with two walks and four runs scored.
- Painter produced two RBI on one hit and one run scored.
- Hilliard logged two hits, one walk and one run.
- Armbruster logged one RBI, one run, one walk and one stolen base.
- Max Martin chipped in one hit, one RBI and one run.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk and Mt. St. Joseph met for the fourth time, first since 2009.
- The Rams are unbeaten all-time against the Lions, 4-0.
- Suffolk tangled with MSJ for the first time in the Anthony Del Prete era.
- Iorio rewrote career-high numbers in RBI with five.
- Hilliard had his first collegiate hit.
- Bucklin earned his first win on the hill.
- Beneke saw his first innings of the season out of the pen.
- Cam Martin shoved a personal-best 1.0 inning.
- Raimo has had one strikeout in each outing of his Suffolk career.
- Bucklin sat down a career-high five batters in his second start of the season.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Rams will take on Fitchburg State tomorrow, Thursday, March 14 at 6:45 p.m. at Lake Myrtle Park.
