Del Prete Wins 100th as Baseball Comes Back at Endicott, 7-4

BEVERLY, Mass. – Trailing by two heading into the sixth inning, the Suffolk baseball team rallied a comeback to defeat Endicott, 7-4, Sunday afternoon at North Field to secure head coach Anthony Del Prete's 100th career victory as the Rams head coach.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 7, Endicott 4 
RECORDS: Suffolk (21-16) | Endicott (24-12)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gulls got on the scoreboard in the home half of the first to put the Rams in a two-run hole where they stayed for next five innings.  

Suffolk struck in the sixth to level the playing field. Thanks to back-to-back singles from Will Hopkins and Seth Coiley and a walk by Greg Speliotis the Rams chucked the bags and set up Blasé Cormier's two RBI single, which equalized the non-conference contest at 2-all.  

The Rams gained the edge in the next inning. After Hopkins and Coiley walked Endicott made a change on the hill, bringing Victor Molle out of the pen. Spelitotis struck on the new arm with a single to center to score Hopkins and give Suffolk the lead. Two batters later, Tim Brigham plated Coiley and Zack Grogan, who replaced Speliotis on the bags, with a base hit through the right side to stretch the Rams cushion to 5-2.  

Suffolk's scoring continued in the eighth when Hopkins went yard and brought Rich Gilbride in with him to turn it into a 7-4 Rams game.  

The Gulls made a move in the bottom of the ninth. After back-to-back swinging strikeouts, pinch hitter Nickolas Perkins barreled a bomb to right field to jump start the rally as Matthew Robida singled before Matthew McKinley's double to left field brought the pinch hitter in. Suffolk made a change on the hill as Tyler Zell took over for Charles Batchelder and secured the non-conference victory for the Rams.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Batchelder threw 135 pitches over 8.2 innings to pick up his sixth victory of the season. The junior RHP allowed four runs on six hits and one walk with eight punchouts to his credit. 
• Zell earned the save, his third of the season, after working the final 0.1 of the contest. 
• Gulls relief arm Cooper Anibal (1-2) tallied the setback after giving up two runs on a pair of walks in just 1.1 innings of action. 
• Endicott's starter Zachary Sultar dealt 5.0 innings where he let up two runson seven hits, three walks and had two Ks. 
• Molle (0.2 IP, 1 R, 3 H 1 K), Kyle Wollman (1.0 IP, 2 R, 2 H) and Matthew McKinley (1.0 IP, 1 BB, 2 K) all came out of the pen for the Gulls.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Hopkins propelled Suffolk at the plate with two hits including one homer for two RBI and three runs. 
• Cormier collected two RBI on a pair of hits with Speliotis recording two hits and one RBI. 
• Gilbride and Nik San Antonio both notched two hits apiece with the former also scoring one run. 
• Brigham contributed two RBI on one hit, while Coiley scored twice and registered one hit.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Del Prete became the fastest Suffolk baseball head coach to eclipse the 100-win milestone, accomplishing the feat in his fourth season on the Rams' bench. 
• Suffolk's Class of 2018 – Brady Chant, Coiley, Mark Fusco, Ryan Pordes and Speliotis – became the fourth consecutive senior class to produce 100 wins in their careers. 
• Hopkins went yard for the third time in his career. 
• San Antonio notched a personal-best two hits for the second straight game.  

COMING UP
Suffolk awaits the official seeding of the 2018 GNAC Tournament, which will be released after the conclusion of the regular season tomorrow, Monday, April 30. As the field's top seed, the Rams received a bye in round one and will host the first day of double elimination action Thursday, May 3 in Eastie at East Boston Memorial Park with first pitch slated for 7 p.m.