Baseball Comes Up Short in Nightcap at Hartford

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – In a see-saw affair, Suffolk baseball came out on the wrong side of an 11-10 decision to fall to Hartford in the nightcap of a non-conference twinbill Saturday at Fiondella Field.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 10 | Hartford 11
RECORDS: Suffolk (24-15) | Hartford (11-24-1) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Colin Flynn's solo shot in the first frame gave Suffolk a 1-0 lead early. 

That advantage did not last long as the Hawks poured in three runs in the second and three more in the third to put the blue-and-gold in a 6-1 hole.  

All that ground was made up in the top of the fifth as the Rams rattled off five runs behind two hits, two Hawks errors and two walks. The highlight of that inning was Flynn's two-run base hit to right that got the scoring started. 

Hartford regained the upperhand in the home half of the fifth and Suffolk's deficit was back at two, 8-6. 

The Rams restored a level playing field in the top of the sixth. In a case of déjà vu, Flynn ignited the Rams runs with a one-run base hit to left. The freshman swiped second and moved up 90 feet thanks to Harry Painter's productive ground out to fifth before capitalizing on an error by the Hawks first baseman that let him score and make it 8-8. 

The back-and-forth continued as Hartford put one run on the board in the bottom of the sixth to for Suffolk to play catch-up once again.  

After a scoreless seventh, a two-run eighth by Hartford made it an 11-8 game. 

Painter kept Suffolk hope's alive as he led off the ninth with a single to third. Alex Sorenti-Burns' doubled to center to put two Rams in scoring position. Max Iorio brought the first in on a single to second. Sorenti-Burns scored despite Sam Armbruster grounding into a double play. Christopher White was the tying run at the plate, but the catcher grounded out to second and the blue-and-gold suffered its second setback in as many games.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Billy Beneke took the loss after giving up one run on one hit and two walks in 1.0 inning of relief. 
• Gregory Kaufmann started and put together a three-run, two-hit, one-walk, and one-strikeout effort in 2.0 innings. 
• Jack Raimo (1.0 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 1 K), TJ Dimitriou (2.0 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB), Cam Martin (1.2 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 1 K) and Patrick Desmond (0.1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K) all came out of the pen for Suffolk. 
• Joe Dooley earned the victory in 4.2 innings of relief. He allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits and struck out six. 
• Colin Blake started for the Hawks. He let up six runs, four earned, on three hits and three walks with two Ks.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Flynn provided a 3-for-5 performance at the plate with four RBI, three runs and two stolen bases. One of his hits was a homer. 
• Sorenti-Burns pitched in a 2-for-4 effort that featured one double and two runs scored. 
• Jack Mihalchik went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. 
• Painter registered two hits, one RBI and one run scored. 
• Iorio notched one hit, one RBI, one run and one walk.
• Joe Norris tallied one hit, a triple. 
• Armbruster and Adam Braid brought one run in each.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Flynn went yard for the first time in his collegiate career. 
• Flynn matched a career-high three hits and set a personal-best in RBI with four. 
• Norris recorded the first triple of his collegiate career. 
• Mihalchik tied a personal-best in hits (2) and runs scored (2).  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk awaits the official seeding of the 2024 CCC Baseball Tournament.