Baseball Thumps Gordon in Seven for Ninth Straight Win, 12-1

EAST BOSTON – Suffolk baseball capped off its six-game homestand with its ninth win in a row, a 12-1, seven-inning triumph over Gordon in Commonwealth Coast Conference action Tuesday afternoon at East Boston Memorial Park.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 12 | Gordon 1
RECORDS: Suffolk (24-13, 9-5 CCC) | Gordon (7-29, 2-10 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
A one-run double by Jack Mihalchik pushed the blue-and-gold on the board in the bottom of the second. The freshman scored Max Martin, who worked a walk and stole second to get in prime scoring position in time for Mihalchik's extra-base hit. 

A five-run Rams' third inning padded Suffolk's advantage to 6-0. A lead-off solo shot to left by Harry Painter got the rally going. The base filled with out before Mihalchik collected his second RBI of the day on a sac fly to center. Colin Flynn blooper base hit to right plated Sam Armbruster, who reached on an error by the Fighting Scots first baseman Jacob Blake, which forced Gordon to make a change on the mound. Garret Roberts musted a triple off the fresh arm and brought in two runs with the extra base hit to lengthen the blue-and-gold's lead to six.  

Gordon got on the board in the top of the fourth. With runners on first and second after a walk and base hit, Jonathan McIntyre's ground-rule double to left field gave the Fighting Scots one run.  

The Rams made up that ground and then some in home half of the inning. Back-to-back base hits by Jonny Gilbride and Painter put runs in the corners. A productive ground out from Alex Sorenti-Burns plated Gilbride and Painter came in on Max Iorio's ground-rule two-bagger to left center. Once again, all the ducks were in the pond for the host and Gordon made its second pitching change of the day as Jack Birtwell came out of the pen. Mihalchik put together his second sac fly of the day to turn it into a 9-1 Suffolk score with four frames in the book.  

Offensive output continued into the fifth as the Rams pilled on three more runs on bases loaded walks to extend the edge to 12-1.  

The Fighting Scots threatened in the top of the sixth as they managed to fill the bags. Roberts got out of the bases loaded game with a crucial four-pitch swinging strikeout and a long out to center.  

With the mercy-rule turned on, Cam Martin came in to take over the hill for Roberts in the top of the seventh. Andrew Hartman and Joey Kazlauskas managed to get two quick hits off the Rams reliever. Those knocks were followed up by a pair of loud outs to right that Iorio gloved. Blake drew a full-count walk to juice the bases, which brought up McIntyre. McIntyre popped up to Gilbride at short to seal the run-rule victory for Suffolk.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Roberts picked up the win behind a one-run, six-hit, four-walk, five-strikeout, 6.0-inning effort. 
• Cam Martin let up two hits and one walk in 1.0 inning of scoreless relief. 
• Mike Williams took the loss for the Fighting Scots after giving up six runs on six hits and two walks with a pair of punchouts in 2.2 innings of work. 
• Gianni Mercurio (0.2 IP, 3 R, 5 H), Jack Birtwell (1.0 IP, 3 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K) and Sam Carlson (1.2 IP, 2 BB, 1 K) all came in in relief for Gordon.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Mihalchik brought in four RBI with a pair of sac flies, a 1-for-1 plate performance with a double and one walk. 
• Iorio went 2-for-3 with two RBI, one double and scored three runs. 
• Painter produced a 3-for-5 performance with one dinger. He scored twice and brought in one run. 
• Roberts registered a 2-for-4 day with a triple. He brought in two runs and scored one himself. 
• Max Martin supplied two runs, one hit and one walk. 
• Flynn added two hits, one RBI and one run. 
• Armbruster added one run, one RBI and one walk.  

NOTEWORTHY

• The Rams extended their win streak to nine, the most wins in a row for the blue-and-gold since March 22-April 6, 2014 when they strung 10 victories together. 
• The nine consecutive victories are the longest win streak in the Anthony Del Prete era. 
• Suffolk finished its CCC campaign 9-5. 
• The nine CCC wins are the most in a single-season for the blue-and-gold during its tenure in the league, which dates back to 2021. 
• The nine league wins are the most since Suffolk went 14-2 in its final year in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference in 2019. 
• Suffolk improved to 9-6 all-time against Gordon. 
• The win is the Rams first over the Fighting Scots since May 8, 2023, a 13-12, 11-inning triumph. 
• The blue-and-gold has outscored the Fighting Scots, 111-53, over the last nine games. 
• Suffolk is unbeaten, 7-0, when hosting the Fighting Scots. 
• Every game in the Suffolk, Gordon series has taken place under Del Prete's leadership. 
• Four games have been decided via run-rule. All four have been won by Suffolk. 
• The last mercy-rule decision between the Rams and Fighting Scots was April 11, 2023, a 16-6, eight-inning Rams' win. 
• Suffolk has knocked a homer in back-to-back games for the third time this season, first since stringing four games together in which a Ram produced at least one homer April 6-10, 2024.
• Painter put a ball out of the park for the fifth time this year. 
• Mihalchik had a career-high in RBI (4) and sac fly (2). 

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Rams wrap up the regular-season Saturday with a non-conference doubleheader at Hartford.