Baseball Rallies by WNE, 15-11

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – In a back-and-forth Conference of New England (CNE) contest that featured five lead exchanges, Suffolk baseball came out on the right side of a 15-11 decision over Western New England Tuesday afternoon at Trelease Park. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 15 | Western New England 11
RECORDS: Suffolk (6-22, 4-9 CNE) | Western New England (15-17, 7-6 CNE) 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Cole Hilliard kept the offense going in the first with a two-out single through the left side. An error when Sam Armbruster put the ball into play pushed Hilliard into scoring position in time for Luke Thornton to bring the runner around and give the Rams a 1-0 lead. 
• The Golden Bears got on the board in the bottom of the second with a two-out rally of their own as the hosts put up three runs on two hits and two walks to put the blue-and-gold in a 3-1 hole. 
• Suffolk wasted little time to answer as it got the runs back and one extra to grab the advantage once again. Jack Mihalchik led off with a single and scored on an ensuing error during Colin Flynn's at bat. Armbruster's triple to left center brought the tying run in in Flynn in, before he scored the go-ahead run courtesy of Thorton's single to left. The inning continued as Thornton moved over to third on a wild pitch and used a throwing error by WNE's third baseman Tyler Kornacki when Mike Mullaney made contact to extend the edge to 5-3 Rams. 
• The Golden Bears got one run back in the home half of the third to make it a one-run margin. 
• The fourth frame's offensive output mirrored that of the third as Suffolk scored once and WNE put up four runs to give the hosts an 8-6 advantage. The Ram run came behind Hilliard's single that plated Mihalchik, who led off with a walk. 
• WNE added to its cushion with two runs in the bottom of the fifth that extended the gap to 10-6. 
• A blue-and-gold battle back came in the top of the sixth. A bases loaded hit by pitch followed by a wild pitch trimmed the distance to two. Sebastian Lampert made up that ground with a two-run triple to right center that forced the Golden Bears' to go to their bullpen. Mullaney doubled off the fresh arm, Lucas Kamoen, to bring in the go-ahead run in Lampert. 
• Following a shutdown bottom of the sixth, the teams swapped one run apiece in the seventh. Suffolk's run was on an Armbruster sac fly that scored Mihlachik, who singled and advanced to third on Flynn's double down the left field line. 
• Insurance for the Rams came in the ninth. Armbruster's one-run double ignited the offensive output that featured a run-scoring passed ball and a Thornton sac fly that pushed Suffolk's lead to 15-11.
• Jack Raimo retired the side in order in the ninth to preserve the win for the Rams. 

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Colin McNeal picked up the win. He let up seven runs, six earned, on six hits and three walks with one strikeout in 4.0 innings. 
• Harry Meehan started and allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks with a pair of punchouts through 3.0 frames.
• Raimo registered the save with 2.0 innings of scoreless, hitless relief with one K. 
• Jack Lewis took the setback as he let up five runs on five hits with two strikeouts in 2.1 innings. 
• Aiden Bisaillon started and gave up six runs, three earned, on six hits and one walk with one K in 3.0 innings. 
• Kamoen (1.1 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 3 K), Todd Grammatico (1.1 IP, 3 K) and Kyle Walsh (1.0 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB) all came in in relief for the Golden Bears. 

STATISCALLY SPEAKING

• Mihalchik went 3-for-5 with four runs scored and one walk. 
• Armbruster brought in three runs on two hits including ne double and one triple, with three runs scored and one sac fly. 
• Thornton tallied four RBI, two hits, two runs and one sac fly. 
• Hilliard had three hits, two runs and one RBI.
• Flynn registered three hits, including one double, three runs and one walk. 
• Mullaney added two RBI and one hit, a double. 
• Lampert recorded two RBI, one hit and one run.   

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk evened the series with Western New England at 25-25 as it bested the Golden Bears in back-to-back meetings. 
• The Rams are now 7-13 in the Anthony Del Prete era against WNE. 
• Thornton brought in a career-high four RBI. 
• Armbruster pushed his hit streak to three games. In that span he has seven hits. The senior tied a career-high in RBI (3) and runs scored (3). 
• Hilliard has hits in back-to-back games. 
• Flynn tied a career-high in hits (3) and runs (3). 
• Mihalchik matched a personal-best in hits (3) and runs scored (4).   

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Rams step away from CNE contests tomorrow, Wednesday, April 22 at Rivier at 3:30 p.m.