DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Four different batters hit homers to propel Suffolk baseball to a 10-7 game one victory over UMass Dartmouth Saturday afternoon at the UMass Dartmouth Baseball Field.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 10 | UMass Dartmouth 7
RECORDS: Suffolk (12-8) | UMass Dartmouth (8-12)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Back-to-back one-out solo shots from Jonny Gilbride and Harry Painter in the first frame sent Suffolk to an early 2-0 edge.
The Corsairs flipped the script in the home half of the inning with three runs on one hit. The Corsairs scored their first run of the day on a delayed double steal before a sac fly from T.J. Keefe plated Joe Muzio, who singled to tie things up. A wild pitch allowed Andrew Possi, who wore a pitch to reach safely, to come in to push the host ahead 3-2.
Suffolk used a double steal of its own in the top of the second to level the playing field at 3-all. Sam Armbruster eached on an error by UMD's third baseman name and put on his running shoes on Cole Hilliard's single to center. Hilliard took off to swipe second and Armbruster strutted in to lock things for the second time on the afternoon.
UMD regained the advantage in the bottom of the third behind Possi's RBI single.
Down 4-3, Suffolk caught up in the top of the fifth. A throwing error when Gilbride put the ball in play allowed Jack Mihalchik to score the tying-run. Mihalchik led off the single with a base hit behind a bunt. With two outs and Gilbride on first, Alex Sorenti-Burns sent the ball out of the park to give the Rams a 6-4 cushion.
A scoreless sixth was followed by an exciting seventh. Suffolk added four more runs. First, Painter produced one RBI on a single to left field before Max Iorio collected three RBI on a dinger to extend the blue-and-gold's cushion to 10-4.
Pierce Salbego took over for Garret Roberts on the rubber and the Corsairs capitalized on the Rams' reliever with three runs to cut the distance down to three. Suffolk stopped UMass Dartmouth's comeback there as Gilbride and Hilliard teamed up for a routine 63 ground out to seal up the victory.
PITCHERS PICTURE
- Roberts registered the win with a four-run, three earned, four-hit, two-walk, three-strikeout effort over 6.0 innings.
- Salbego allowed three runs on four hits with one punchout in 1.0 inning of relief.
- AJ Rourke took the loss after giving up six runs, three earned, on seven hits and one walk with three Ks in 5.0 innings of work.
- Dillon Harding (1 K) and Josh Malcom (4 R, 3 H, 2 BB) both came out of the Corsairs pen for 1.0 inning of relief.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Iorio brought in three runs on a 2-for-3 effort with both hits good for extra bases, a double and homer. He scored one run and walked once.
- Painter provided two RBI on two hits, including a bomb, to go along with two runs scored.
- Gilbride scored three runs, logged two RBI, knocked one hit, a homer, and walked once.
- Sorenti-Burns supplied two RBI, one hit, a homer, one run and one walk.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk defeated UMass Dartmouth for the first time since April 21, 2022.
- The Rams moved to 9-25 all-time against the Corsairs.
- Suffolk is now 3-5 versus UMD in the Anthony Del Prete era.
- All three wins over the Corsairs under Del Prete's guidance have come in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
- Suffolk had multiple homers in a game for the third time this season.
- The four bombs are the most since the Rams knocked four in a 15-13 win at WPI March 20, 2024.
- Gilbride (4), Painter (3), Sorenti-Burns (3) and Iorio (2) all sent balls out of the park.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Rams go for the sweep of the Corsairs with game two coming up this afternoon.
