Baseball’s Regional Run Begins Thursday vs. #22/24 Oswego State

NCAA DIII NEW ENGLAND REGIONALS MAY 17 | 8:00 PM WHITEHOUSE FIELD HARWICH, MASS LIVE STATS
Series Record - Suffolk Trails, 0-1 Last Meeting - March 16, 2012, L, 11-4 Last Suffolk Win - Never Streak - L1 Eyes on the Game Suffolk Game Notes

BOSTON – The Suffolk baseball team received a seventh seed in the upcoming NCAA New England Regional and will face second-seed, No. 22/24 Oswego State, Thursday, May 17 at 8 p.m at historic Whitehouse Field.

Suffolk, which earned its tournament bid by capturing its fourth consecutive GNAC title, will be making its fourth straight appearance in the Tournament.

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NCAA NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, MAY 17
GAME 1: #4 Western New England vs. #5 Ramapo – 3:30 p.m. - at UMass Boston
GAME 2: #1 UMass Boston vs. # 8 Penn State Berks – 7:00 p.m. - at UMass Boston
GAME 3: #3 Keystone vs. #6 Mitchell – 3:30 p.m. - at Clark
GAME 4: #2 Oswego State vs. #7 Suffolk – 7:00 p.m. - at Clark

FRIDAY, MAY 18
GAME 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 – 9:30 a.m.
GAME 6: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 – 1:00 p.m.
GAME 7: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 – 4:30 p.m.
GAME 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 – 8:0 p.m. 

SATURDAY, MAY 19
GAME 9: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7 – 9:30 a.m.
GAME 10: Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 6 – 1:00 p.m.
GAME 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 – 4:30 p.m.
GAME 12: Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 9 – 8:00 p.m. 

SUNDAY, MAY 20
GAME 13: Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 11 – 12:00 p.m.
GAME 14: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 13 – 3:30 p.m. 

MONDAY, MAY 22 – IF NCESSARY
GAME 15: Winner Game 14 vs. Loser Game 14 – TBD

THE FIELD

POSTSEASON PLAY
2018 marks the fourth straight year and eighth overall that Suffolk has earned a postseason tournament bid. The Rams first went dancing in 2000, where is picked up two wins. Since then, the blue-and-gold has made the tournament trip in 2002, 2005, 2009 and three straight appearances, which opened the Anthony Del Prete era, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Suffolk looks to return to the winner's bracket again this season after surprising last year's field as the sixth seed and advancing to championship Sunday. 

RAMS RUNDOWN
Suffolk (25-17) built its 14-game league slate around a talent filled 25-game non-conference schedule to prep for this upcoming week. 

Brady Chant buoys Suffolk's offense which sees a trio of everyday starters produce average over .300. Chant's bat connects at a .350 clip for 57 hits and 34 RBI to go along with 35 runs and 22 stolen bases. Chant's classmate and fellow outfielder Seth Coiley is second on the squad with a .314 average for 43 hits and 19 RBI with 28 runs scored to his credit. Freshman first baseman Blasé Cormier completes the threesome with a 42 hits and 26 RBI on a .302 average. 

SUFFOLK'S STAFF
Suffolk has a wealth of experience on the hill this season led by upperclassmen with four of its hurlers garnering all-league accolades. Mark Fusco anchors the core starters with a 2.49 ERA over 50.2 innings with 37 strikeouts with Kevin Sinatra also coming in sub 3.00 with an ERA of 2.73 over 59.1 frames and 37 punchouts. Charles Batchelder (4.47 ERA, 58.1 IP, 36 Ks) and Ryan Pordes (5.43 ERA, 59.2 IP, 47 Ks) are also in the rotation for the rams. Tyler Zell, meanwhile, has proven his worth this season, through 38.0 innings for a 2.37 ERA with 27 Ks over multiple starts. Jake Flax has shown his ability as Suffolk's closer with the junior RHP bring in a 0.82 ERA over 11.0 innings with 14 Ks, five saves and a 1-0 mark. 

LAST TIME OUT
To prep for the national stage, Suffolk took on Endicott in a non-conference doubleheader Friday, May 11. The Rams locked up game one, 3-2, but slipped up in game in the closer, 16-0.

FAMILIAR FOES
The New England regional features familiar faces for the Rams as Suffolk has taken the diamond against two of seven teams vying for the single ticket to the NCAA Championship in Appleton, Wisconsin. Against the foes, Suffolk is 1-3 with a standing upset win over then-No. 1/3 UMass Boston March 24. Suffolk also saw Western New England in the regular season. 

MORE READING: Baseball Takes Down No. 1/3 UMass Boston, 3-1, in Nightcap 

FREE BASEBALL
Suffolk has gone into extra innings four times this season, winning 75 percent (3-1) of those contests.

Under Anthony Del Prete's guidance, the Rams boast a 10-4 extra-inning ledger. 

In the NCAA Tournament, Suffolk has only need extra time to decide a winner once, last season's thrilling 1-0 walk-off win over then-No. 25 Arcadia in the second round of the New England Regional in Harwich to secure its spot on Championship Sunday. 

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
Suffolk claimed its fourth consecutive GNAC Championship and eighth overall with a dramatic run in the league tournament. 

As the top seed, the regular season champion needed extra-time to take down fourth-seed Lasell in the quarterfinals, which the Rams walked-off in the 10th thanks to a Lasers error. Two days later in the semis, Suffolk held off the field's third-seed Johnson & Wales, 7-6, before building an early lead against second-seed Saint Joseph's (Maine) in the title tilt to grab the crown, 6-5. 

CHANT CHASES HISTORY
With just a few weeks left in his final campaign in blue-and-gold, senior centerfielder Brady Chant still has a chance to make history. He entered his senior season on the verge of eclipsing the 200-hit mark and did with a lead-off base-hit versus Lasell April 8. Since, the centerfielder has been chipping away at the all-time hit marks and currently sits in second-place on the career list with 230 knocks over 175 games, eight shy of the all-time record set by Jake Cintolo in 2014. 

Chant, who has appeared in the most games in a Suffolk uniform, already holds the all-time triples mark with 24 and is three bases short of the total bases Rams' record (359).

ALL-GNAC
After winning a fourth straight GNAC Championship, Suffolk baseball was rewarded for its efforts by taking home 17 All-GNAC awards highlighted by Brady Chant's Player of the Year nod and Anthony Del Prete's Coach of the Year recognition.

MORE READING: Player of the Year Chant Headlines Baseball's 17 All-GNAC Honorees, Del Prete Coach of the Year 

D3 TEAM OF THE WEEK
Jake Flax of the Suffolk baseball team had a hand in each of the Rams' GNAC Tournament games as the Rams' closer to help the blue-and-gold hoist the conference crown for the fourth consecutive campaign. For his efforts on the hill, the junior RHP was named to D3Baseball.com Team of the Week. 

MORE READING: Flax Named to D3Baseball.com Team of the Week 

ACADEMIC ACCOALDES
Senior Brady Chant of the Suffolk baseball team has added academic accolades to his extensive athletic resume as the senior was named to the Google Cloud Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Team for the 2018 Season. 

MORE READING: Chant Collects Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District 

ON THE BENCH
Anthony Del Prete was named the sixth head coach in Suffolk baseball history in 2015 and is in the midst of his fourth season as the Rams' head coach.

In his four seasons as skipper, Del Prete has guided Suffolk to the program's first-ever back-to-back GNAC Championship in 2015 and 2016, respectively, followed that with a threepeat performance in 2017 and made it four straight this season (2018). 

A LOOK BACK: SUFFOLK BASEBALL'S 1000 WINS
January 17, 1947 is a historic day in Suffolk Athletics history as Charles Law, the department's first-ever Director of the Athletics, penned a letter to Tufts announcing the formation of the University's baseball team.

71 Years and 93 days later, the self-proclaimed Mutts made more history, capturing the program's 1000th win in an 11-2 decision at Norwich April 21, 2018. The 1K milestone has only been reached by 17.1 percent of active NCAA Division III programs with the Rams of Suffolk becoming the 66th team to accomplish the feat.

To celebrate this memorable milestone, Suffolk Athletics takes Ram Nation on a walk down memory lane. Revisit the wins here. 

LOOK AT THE LAKERS
Oswego State, who appears at No. 23 in both the ABCA Collegiate Poll and the D3Baseball.com/NCBWA Poll, secured its spot in the 2018 NCAA DIII Tournament by winning the SUNYAC Title.

Mike Dellicarri has been the catalyst for the Lakers as the junior picked up SUNYAC Bob Wallace Player of the Year honors along with a spot on the league's first-team following a season in which he dominated the dish leading the conference in runs (49), triples (5) and (RBI). The outfielder's bat has produced 55 hits – six homers – on a .372 batting average. He has also been solid in right field all year, committing just one error in 87 total chances with three outfield assists. 

Seniors Myles Kutscher joined Dellicarri on the first team, while John Barnes earned a spot on the second team. Kutscher's bats .371 with 36 hits, 29 RBI and 22 runs scored. Barnes, meanwhile, racked up 46 hits and RBI (35), while slugging .540 and batting .382 

Robert Donnelly, a first-team All-SUNYAC selection as well, is the Lakers' ace, while also spending time at short. The senior holds the best ERA at 1.39, which clocks in as the 20th-lowest for all qualified pitchers across Division III. Donnelly's seven complete games in 2018 are the fourth-most in the nation, while his sub-1.000 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) is the 25th-best in the country.

INSIDE THE SERIES
Suffolk and Oswego State will meet for the first time at the NCAA Tournament and second-time in the all-time series. The Rams and Lakers first and only meeting came at the 2012 RussMatt Central Florida Invitational, which Oswego won, 11-4.  

EYES ON THE GAME

ON DECK
The winner of the Rams/Lakers tilt advances to the winner's bracket and will face either No. 3 Keystone (32-10) or No. 6 Mitchell (30-8) Friday under the lights at 8 p.m. The underdog will play in a win-or-go-home game at 1 p.m. Friday against the loser of the same opponents.