Baseball Walks Off UMass Dartmouth, 4-3

EAST BOSTON – Graduate student third baseman Chris Cimino hit a walk-off base hit as Suffolk baseball defeated UMass Dartmouth, 4-3, Thursday at East Boston Memorial Park.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 4 | UMass Dartmouth 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (7-11) | UMass Dartmouth (9-7)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
A first and third situation ended with a double steal that gave UMass Dartmouth a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth.  

Suffolk responded to that and took the lead in the home half of the inning. A hit by pitch, single by Max Iorio and walk from Sam Armbruster filled the bags in time for Mike Mullaney to barrel a two-run base hit to center that gave the Rams the 2-1 edge.  

The Corsairs looked to catch up in the top of the sixth when Pierce Salbego found himself with runners on second and third and no outs. The senior right-handed hurler got back up from his defense to get out of the jam. An unassisted ground out to first was followed by a pop up to second in foul territory to put the first two outs on the board. Salbego secured the final out himself with a swinging strikeout to keep the one-run advantage in the Rams' favor. 

In the bottom of the sixth Mullaney led off with a single through the left side, stole second and coasted in on Cole Hilliard's perfectly placed double on the right field line to make it 3-1 Suffolk with six innings in the books.  

UMD quickly figured out Harry Meehan in the top of the eighth and managed to even things up at 3-all. The scoring came behind a lead-off walk, a productive ground out and an RBI single by Liam Blesi. From there, Blesi showed shift feet on the base paths, swiped second and third, and scored the game-tying run on Chance Checca's double to center.  

Jack Raimo kept the Corsairs quiet in the top of the ninth to set-up a walk-off opportunity.  

Hilliard wore a pitch to get the inning underway, which forced UMD to bring Nick Baratalini in to deal for Ryan Jackson. Colin Flynn put down a bunt to move him over and Max Martin's ground out to short put Hilliard in prime scoring position. Cimino put ho his hero cape when he slugged a base hit into right to bring in Hilliard for the game-winning run.  

PICTCHERS PICTURE

• Salbego put together a one-run, six-hit, no-walk effort with three strikeouts, one looking, over 6.0 innings.
• Nick Arnett logged a scoreless, hitless inning of relief. 
• Meehan allowed two runs on two hits and one walk with one strikeout in 1.0 inning out of the pen. 
• Raimo registered the victory behind a one-hit, one-strikeout effort in 1.0 inning of relief. 
• Jackson took the loss. He was responsible for the game-winning run on one walk in 1.0 inning. 
• Bartalini gave up one hit in 0.2 inning of relief. 
• Aiden Newhall gave up three runs on eight hits and two walks with one punchout in 6.0 frames. 
• Carter Scovill tossed 1.0 inning of scoreless relief with two punchouts.  

STATISTICALLLY SPEAKING

• Cimino's lone hit of the day came at the prime opportunity to bring in the game-winning run. 
• Mullaney went 3-for-4 with two RBI, one run scored and one stolen base. 
• Hilliard recorded one hit, a double, one RBI and one run. 
• Max Martin supplied two hits. 
• Alex Sorenti-Burns added one hit, one run and one walk. 
• Iorio had one hit and one run. 
• Armbruster walked twice. 
• Flynn put down a sac.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk moved to 10-26 all-time against UMass Dartmouth. 
• The Rams defeated the Corsairs for the first time since game one of a twinbill April 6, 2024. 
• Suffolk is now 4-6 versus UMD in the Anthony Del Prete era. 
• Mullaney produced a career-high in hits (3) and RBI (2).  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk has the weekend off to prep for its Tuesday, April 6 tilt at No. 6 Endicott. The Conference of New England (CNE) contest is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.