Baseball Falls to Juniata, 8-3

DAVENPORT, Fla. – Suffolk baseball suffered an 8-3 setback to Juniata Tuesday afternoon at the NERP Complex at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.   

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Juniata 8
RECORDS: Suffolk (0-5) | Juniata (4-2) 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Juniata jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning behind two hits, one walk and a sac fly. 
• The teams exchanged runs in the third to make it a 3-1 margin in the Falcons' favor. Suffolk's run came with two outs. Jack Mihalchik kept the inning going with a base hit to center and the junior swiped second to get into scoring position in time for Cole Hilliard's base hit to center that put the Rams on the board.
• An inning later, the blue-and-gold leveled the playing field. Luke Thornton led off with a base hit through the left side and Sam Armbruster double to right to put two ducks in the pond. Ross Treubig traded places with Armbruster to lock things at 3-all. 
• The Falcons regained the advantage in the bottom of the fourth. With runners on first and second, Zach Johnston's doubt to right center scored the go-ahead run to put the Rams in a 4-3 hole. 
• Anthony Ferreira got out of a jam two Falcons on with no outs. A sac bunt moved both runners into scoring position. Ferreira helped himself out as he fanned Matthew Quig swinging before Mihalchik gloved a long out in right to keep the score still. 
• Sam Armbruster saved a run in the next inning as the senior made a leaping grab that turned into a double play to hold the gap at one as the game headed to the top of the seventh. 
• Insurance for Juniata came in the home half of the seventh and eighth to turn it into an 8-3 distance, which stayed true at the final. 

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Ferreira took the loss as he allowed four runs, three earned, on seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts over 5.0 innings. 
• Ben Cassavoy shoved 1.2 innings of relief with three runs allowed on four walks with a pair of punchouts. 
• Jonathan Marcotte (1.0 IP, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K) and Quinlan Finnigan (0.1 IP, 1 H) came out of the pen for the blue-and-gold as well. 
• Connor Blough earned the decision with a three-run, eight-hit, one-walk, five-strikeout performance in 6.0 innings.
• Ben Ryan picked up the save with 3.0 innings of scoreless relief. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Hilliard had two hits and one RBI. 
• Thornton tallied two hits, including one double, and one run scored. 
• Treubig brought in two runs on one hit, a double. 
• Armbruster added one hit, a double, and one run scored. 
• Mihalchik stole one base to go along with one hit and one run. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk met Juniata for the first since March 14, 2019. 
• The Rams and Falcons tangled for the third time overall, all of which have taken place at a neutral diamond. 
• Ferreira sat down a personal-best three batters. 
• Finnigan and Marcotte made their collegiate debut. 
• Treubig brought in the first runs of his collegiate career. 
• Armbruster has extended his hit streak to three games. He has one hit in each and back-to-back outings with extra-base knocks. 
• Thornton produced a career-high two hits and had the first extra-base hit of his career.
• Hilliard pushed his hit streak to four games. He has six hits over that span with two consecutive two-hit contests. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk is set to face Wesleyan tomorrow, Wednesday, March 11 under the lights at 7:45 p.m.