Lakeland Spoils Baseball's Spring Break Finale in Eighth Inning, 7-4

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Suffolk baseball fell in its RussMatt Central Florida Invitational finale as Lakeland used a seven-run eighth-inning to hand the Rams a 7-4 setback Friday morning at Lake Myrtle Park.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 4 | Lakeland7
RECORDS: Suffolk (4-9) | Lakeland (6-5)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk had its chances early on, but it was Lakeland that had Ram Nation on the edge of its seats in the top of the fourth. Base hits sandwiched around a loud out to left put a pair of runners on. TJ Dimitriou's composure came through big time as he fanned the next two hitters swinging to keep zeros on both sides of the scoreboard.  

Dimitriou came up big again in the Muskies next turn at the plate. The southpaw sat down his sixth hitter of the day before making a highlight reel play for the final out of the top of the fifth. OakLee Spens barreled ball right back to the mound and Suffolk's hurler nearly caught it but was inches shy and fell to his knees. Dimitriou stayed with play, grabbed the ball and threw it towards first to connect for the 13 ground out and bring the Rams back to the plate.  

Stephen Nardelli led off the home half of the fifth with a full-count walk, took second behind Jack Mihalchik's sac bunt and advanced to third on a wild pitch. With one down, Cole Hilliard hit a high fly ball to left, Nardelli tagged up and beat the throw in at home to give the blue-and-gold a 1-0 edge. 

Another shutdown inning Dimitirou in the sixth was followed by one insurance run for the Rams in the seventh. Max Martin knocked a one-out single to left, Sam Armbruster walked, and Will Robbins brought the run around with a stand-up down to right that padded Suffolk's lead to a pair, 2-0.   

A Suffolk error with two outs allowed Lakeland's offense to keep going in the top of the seventh and load the bases. Thankfully, Mihalchik managed to glove a fly ball in right for the third out of the stanza and keep the Muskies off the scoreboard.  

An insurance run for the Rams came in in the bottom of the seventh when Hilliard tagged up on a double play to extend the margin to 3-0. Suffolk's first baseman reached no. a walk, stole second, beat out a throw on a fielder's choice to take third and came in on Max Iorio's long out to right. 

Nolan Drew came in to deal for Dimitirou to start the eighth. Zak Keegan hit a lead-off, solo shot off the Rams' reliever to eliminate the shutout. The Muskies managed to bring in two more runs to even the playing field at 3-all, before Anthony Del Prete went to the pen again.  

Cam Martin came in to take over the hill. Lakeland's momentum continued off the fresh arm and it put up two more to put Suffolk in a four-run, 7-3 hole. 

The score stood there until the bottom of the ninth. Pinch hitter Mike Mullaney roped a double to left and came in three batters later Alex Sorenti-Burns' third single of the day. Chris Cimino worked a base on balls to put two ducks in the pond and bring the tying-run to the plate in Iorio. The senior center fielder fired a line drive towards Lakeland's second baseman. It looked like it was just out of his grab, but a leaping catch sealed Suffolk's setback fate. 

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Dimitriou put together 7.0 innings of scoreless work with seven hits and one walk allowed. He sat down six batters, one swinging. 
• Drew took the loss. He gave up four runs on four hits through 0.1 inning of work. 
• Cam Martin allowed three runs, one earned, on three hits in 0.2 frames out of the pen. 
• Anthony Ferreira logged 1.0 inning of scoreless relief. He yieled one hit and one walk.  
• Eli Watkins earned the decision behind a one-run, two-hit, one-walk performance over 3.0 innings of relief. 
• Lakeland's starter Tucker Gegenfurtner let up three runs on seven hits and three walks with one K through 6.0 innings.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Sorenti-Burns went 4-for-5 with one RBI and two stolen bases. 
• Robbins registered a 2-for-4 effort with one RBI. One of the freshman's hit was a double. 
• Max Martin added one hit and one run. 
• Mullaney produced one hit, a double, and one run scored. 
• Nardelli scored one run.
• Hilliard had one RBI, one run, one walk, one sac fly and one stolen base. 
• Armbruster added one hit and one walk.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk and Lakeland met for the second time, second straight season. 
• Both battles between Suffolk and Lakeland have taken place on neutral diamonds in the Sunshine State. 
• Dimitriou struck out a career-high six batters. 
• Robbins had a career-high two hits, tied a personal-best in doubles (1) and RBI (1). 
• Sorenti-Burns produced a career-high in hits (4) and stolen bases (2). 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk heads back up to Boston with action set to pick back up Thursday, March 20 against WPI at 3:30 p.m. at East Boston Memorial Park.