No. 24 Baseball Falls to Gordon, 8-5

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The No. 24 Suffolk baseball team dropped an 8-5 decision to New England native Gordon Wednesday afternoon at Lake Myrtle Park as part of the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: #24 Suffolk 5, Gordon 8
RECORDS: #24 Suffolk (4-2) | Gordon (3-3) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Gordon took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but Suffolk responded with back-to-back two-run innings in the second and third, respectively, to turn the tides in its favor, 4-1. 

Seth Coiley started the rally with a single to right field and two batters later Kevin Higgins hit a single of his own up the middle. Trevor Lee drew a walk to load the bases to set-up BJ Neil and Brady Chant, who each put a single into play, bringing in runners Coiley and Higgins swinging the score to 2-1 Rams. 

In the top of the third, Luke Ronchi single to left and advanced to third on a double to right by Coiley. Ronchi and Coiley both came in on Higgins' single to left center to push the Rams' edge to three, 4-1. 

The lead was shortlived as the Fighting Scots put on a hitting show in the bottom of the fourth, crossing the plate four times all thanks to extra base hits including a homer to regain the lead, 5-4. 

In the next half inning Suffolk evened the playing field at 5-all. With two outs Zach Grogran took advantage of Gordon's third baseman's error to keep the top of the fifth alive for the Rams. Higgins kept things going with a single and Lee walked to load the bases for Neil, who brought in his second run of the day on a single to left. The go-ahead runs were stranded on though as Chant went down swinging and to keep the score 5-5. 

The Fighting Scots put a three-run distance between the Rams in the bottom of the eighth. Suffolk threated late in the top of the ninth, but could not get the big hit they needed as it fell to 8-5.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Every Ram who registered a hit in the outing put together multi-hit days.
• Higgins led all Suffolk batters on the day, going 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and one run scored.
• A quartet of Rams in Chant (2-5), Ronchi (2-5), Coiley (2-5) and Neil (2-4) all contributed two hits apiece. Coiley scored two runs, while Neil produced two RBI.
• Suffolk out hit Gordon by an 11-10 margin. 

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Charles Batchelder suffered the defeat in his first start of the season. The sophomore hurler tossed 3.2 innings and gave up five runs on seven hits, while sitting down one batter.
• Wyatt Stanley tossed 4.1 innings of relief, letting up three runs on three hits and struck out two.
• Derek Hudson earned the win for Gordon with an 8.0 inning, five-run, 10-hit, nine-strikeout day.
• Morgan Hyde secured the win in the final inning, keeping the Rams scoreless and allowing just one hit and punching out two hitters. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Higgins had a career day for the Rams, tallying career-high numbers in hits (3) and RBI (2).
• Neil also recorded a career-best in RBI with two. 

POST-GAME PIC

WHAT'S NEXT
Suffolk is set for a 10 a.m. showdown with Washington (Mo.) as it continues as the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.