Baseball Outlasts Westfield State in Extras, 12-8, to Open Series 

LEESBURG, Fla. – Westfield State scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings where Suffolk baseball took care of business to capture a 12-8, eight-inning win over the Owls in the first of a two-game series at Pat Thomas Stadium. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 12 | Westfield State 8
RECORDS: Suffolk (2-2) | Westfield State (0-3)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk started the game by putting two runs on the board in the top of the first. A pair of hit by pitches sandwiched an out before an error loaded the bases. Rich Giandrea drew a bases loaded walk and the first run of the day came in before a fielder's choice to third allowed Rich Gilbride to score the second.  

Two innings later the Rams padded their advantage to four as Zack Aresty knocked a bases clearing double to push the gap to four.  

Westfield State got on the board in the home half of the inning, but another two-run frame by the blue-and-gold came in the fourth. With two outs, Logan Heckman singled through the middle to keep the inning going. Tim Brigham followed suit with a base hit of his own that pushed Heckman to third. Heckman sauntered in on a wild pitch and Brigham crossed home on Blase Cormier's single through the right side that pushed the gap to 6-1.  

The Owls made up some ground in the bottom of the fifth to slice the margin in half, 6-3.  

Suffolk added insurance in the sixth and seventh. In the sixth, Cormier collected his second RBI of the day with a single to left, while Heckman had a one-RBI base hit in the next inning to turn it into an 8-3 game. 

The five-run distance was not too much for Westfield as its bats got going to level the playing field at 8-all. 

In the eighth the blue-and-gold made a rally to take back a four-run advantage. With one dead, Cormier singled to center, Marc Birbiglia walked and Aresty batted a base hit to load the bases. Pinch hitter Gino Desimone worked a walk that let the eventual game-winning run score. Steven Shamnoski followed with a sac fly and Nik San Antonio picked up an RBI that extended the distance to 12-4.  

Ryan Garton took over the mound to secure the extra-inning and did so with ease.   

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Reliever Gilbride earned the win even though he had a three-run, four-hit performance in just 1.0 inning. 
• Closer Garton gave up just one walk and one strikeout in the final frame. 
• Starter Steven Rossi put together a three-run, nine-hit, two-walk, five-strikeout day over 5.0 innings. 
• Robert Shaw and CJ Barrett came out of the ben for the Rams as well. 
• Trevor Edwards suffered the setback after allowing four runs on three hits and three walks 1.0 inning. 
• Patrick Jordan opened the outing for the Owls and let up four runs on one hit and three walks and sat down two hitters.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Cormier propelled the offense with a 3-for-4 effort with two RBI and two runs scored. 
• Aresty registered three RBI with two hits and scored once. 
• Heckman had two hits, two runs and one RBI. 
• Shamnoski registered two hits and one RBI.
• Brigham scored twice and tallied one hit. 
• Ben Isaak and San Antonio each notched one hit. Isaak scored one run and San Antonio brought one in. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk improved to 3-7 all-time versus Westfield State.
• The Rams snapped a five-game skid against the Owls. 
• The blue-and-gold defeated Westfield State for the first time since a 15-4 decision March 16, 2013. 
• Anthony Del Prete picked up his first win over the Owls in his tenure. 
• Suffolk went into extra innings for the second time this season. 
• The Rams picked up their first extra-inning win since a 3-2, eight-inning triumph over Lasell April 14, 2019.
• Suffolk and Westfield State needed extra innings to determine a winner for the first time in the series history.  
• Aresty matched personal-bests in hits (2) and RBI (3). 
• Heckman matched a career-high in hits (2) and set a personal-high in runs scored with two.  

POST-GAME PIC
  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk and Westfield State will go at it again and wrap up the doubleheader in about a half hour.