Baseball Gets Back On Winning Track With 8-3 Victory

The Suffolk University Baseball team rebounded on Thursday afternoon with an 8-3 victory over the Bridgewater State University Bears in non-conference action.

Suffolk scored five runs on one hit in the bottom of the second as they took advantage of four base on balls and two hit pitches.

Junior Steve Chamberland (Bristol, Conn.) pitched 5 1/3 innings to earn the win on the mound for Suffolk as he improves to 2-0 on the season in as many starts. Sophomore Cal Carroll (Methuen, Mass.) escaped a bases loaded jam in the sixth and then held the Bears off in the seventh for his second save of the year.

Thursday's game was originally scheduled to be played at Adams Field in Quincy but was moved to the campus of Bridgewater State due to a scheduling conflict but still served as Suffolk's home game. The game was called after seven innings of play due to darkness.

The Bears jumped on the board first scoring a pair of runs with two outs in the top half of the first. Senior Craig Stewart (Brockton, Mass.) knocked in the game's first run with a single as three straight Bears' hitters all collected base hits. Senior Matt Barsaleau (Holland, Mass.) knocked in the second run of the game later in the inning with an infield single.

Suffolk would threaten in the bottom of the first as they were able to load the bases with nobody out but couldn't show anything for it as the Bears were able to escape the jam on a line drive double play in the infield and a popup.

The second inning would be a different story however as the Rams would send ten hitters to the plate. Junior James McConville (Medford, Mass.) started things with a single down the left field line before the Bears pitching would issue three consecutive walks to bring home Suffolk's first run of the game. Suffolk would score three runs in their next three at bats without having to put a ball in play as junior Mac Jacobson (Norfolk, Mass.) took a pitch off the hip, junior Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.) drew a walk and sophomore J.C. Collette (Amesbury, Mass.) wore a slider of his shoe top to make it a 4-2 game. Senior Chris Stanley (Placentia, Calif.) capped the inning off with an RBI groundout.

Suffolk would tack on another run in the third inning as they got some clutch two out hitting. Junior Devan Jones (Roslindale, Mass.) doubled deep to left field and would come around to score on a double to left by Jacobson.

Sophomore Justin Knight (Great Meadows, N.J.) would add an RBI single in the fourth inning and then connect on an RBI double in the sixth off the left field wall to help give Suffolk some insurance.

After a rocky first inning, Chamberland was able to settle down through the middle innings lifting Suffolk to an 11-2 mark on the year. He allowed only two singles from the second through the fifth inning. Chamberland would run into some trouble though in the sixth as a leadoff single to senior Tory Buck (Shelburne Falls, Mass.) would be followed by a hit batsman and a walk chasing the junior lefty from the game. Carroll was summoned in from the bullpen and induced a 5-4-3 double play to escape the threat. Carroll would again dodge a bullet in the seventh inning after another hit batter, infield error and walk once again put a logjam on the bases with the Bears threatening, but the two-ball would aid Carroll as Knight ended the inning at short on a line drive and touched the second base bag for the force out.

The game was called at that point due to the overcast on the field.

Thursday's game was a Moneyball lovers dream as the two teams combined for 19 free passes on 13 walks and six hit batters.

Buck was the lone Bridgewater State player to record multiple hits in the contest as he finished the day 2-for-4 with a run scored. The Bears combined for seven hits in the contest.

Knight finished the day 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Jacobson also knocked in a pair of runs while scoring twice. Jones reached base four times in five plate appearances as he drew three walks and was 1-for-2 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI. McConville and Cintolo also had a pair of hits to round out a 10-hit Suffolk offensive attack.

Suffolk will be back on the diamond on Saturday afternoon as they open up their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) slate with a double header against Emerson College starting at 1:00pm at Watertown's Victory Field.