Baseball’s Season Ends in CCC Tournament at Western New England

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Suffolk baseball was eliminated from the 2022 CCC Postseason as fifth-seed Western New England scored 13 straight to take the win-or-go-home game away from the sixth-seeded Rams, 13-5, Thursday afternoon at Trelease Park. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 5 | Western New England 13
RECORDS: Suffolk (23-20) | Western New England (18-19-1)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
The majority of Suffolk's scoring came within the first two stanzas, three of which came in the first inning. The Rams used five base hits to put three runs on the board in the first inning. Harry Painter, Marc Birbiglia and Luke Harderall collected RBIs on their singles, while Garret Roberts and Christian Seariac got the day going with theirs.  

In the second Seariac's sac fly plated Jonny Gilbride to bump the gap to four. Gilbride led off with a double to right center and set up the third baseman's RBI when he took third on Roberts fly out to right.  

Western New England broke onto the board in the home half of the fourth. The Golden Bears used two hits, a Rams error, two walks and a hit by pitch to make it a one-run game, 4-3.  

An inning later, things got away from Suffolk as the host put up seven runs to take control of matters, 7-4. 

Following a scoreless sixth, WNE tacked on three more runs to really put the game out of reach for the Rams. 

Anthony Del Prete pinch hit his seniors in the ninth and the hopefuls looked to keep the inning alive. An error and walk put runners on first and second in time for Ben Isaak's RBI single to right. Another Golden Bears mishap, their second of the inning, allowed the blue-and-gold to loaded the bases. They would stay that way, however, as Shane Lake flew out to right field for the final out of the day and 2022 Suffolk season.

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Nick Reiser took the loss after giving up five runs on six hits and three walks with one strikeout in 4.1 innings of work. 
• Michael Muscarella fired 1.0 inning of scoreless, hitless relief. 
• Both Casey Sullivan and EJ Birch came out of the pen for the Rams.
• Kevin Hummer picked up the win with a four-run, eight-hit, two-walk, two-strikeout effort in 7.0 innings.
• Ryan Searles closed the door with one run allowed on two hits and two walks and one punchout in 2.0 innings of relief. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Harder went 2-for-4 with one RBI.
• Gilbride went 2-for-3. Both of the short stop's hits were doubles. 
• Seariac had one hit, one RBI, one sac fly and scored one. 
• Painter scored twice, to go along with one hit and one RBI.
• Birbiglia and Isaak each added one hit and one RBI, respectively. 
• Blase Cormier chipped in one hit.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk met Western New England in the CCC postseason for the first time.
• The Rams and Golden Bears tangled in a conference playoff game for the 10^th time in program history, first since 2007. 
• GIlbride knocked a career-high two doubles.
• Seariac ended his collegiate career on a five-game hit streak.
• Painter  pushed his hit streak to seven games.