Baseball Outlasts Johnson & Wales, 14-12

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – In a back-and-forth battle, Suffolk baseball came out on top of Johnson & Wales, 14-12, Thursday afternoon at Scots Miracle Gro Athletic Complex.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 14 | Johnson & Wales 12
RECORDS: Suffolk (10-5) | Johnson & Wales (2-14)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk cycled through its line-up in the first to make it a 5-0 gap early on. Christian Seariac led off the day with a walk and Garret Roberts quickly brought in the third baseman with a triple to left field. The middle infielder tagged up on Joe Ward's long out to left to tack on the second run of the day. Three straight singles from Harry Painter, Marc Birbiglia and Luke Harder kept the offensive attack going. Harder's base hit scored Painter, before Blase Cormier brought in Birbiglia and Harder with his single to right.  

With a comfortable cushion thanks to the blue-and-gold bats, Steven Rossi headed to the hill. The senior right-handed hurler used just five pitches to escape the first frame in which he retired the side with one strikeout.  

The Rams found themselves in a sticky situation after the Wildcats used back-to-back three-run innings to eliminated the guest's lead and go in front, 6-5. 

Ground was made up and then some in the fourth frame as Suffolk scored five runs in a single inning for the second time in the outing to grab a 10-6 advantage. Ward, Cormier and Steven Shamnoski all collected RBI on base hits in the scoring frenzy on singles, while Birbiglia brought in a run with a sac fly. Roberts was responsible for the other run as the sophomore capitalized on a wild pitch after reaching on a single of his own.  

Johnson & Wales continued its its three-run inning streak going in the home half of the fourth to pull within one, 10-9.  

Things remained interesting in the fifth as the teams traded runs to keep things close, 11-10. The Rams run was scored by Roberts on Painter's 63 ground out. Roberts led off with a single to right, swiped second and took third on Ward's fly out to center to set up Painter for an RBI.  

An inning later, Steven Shamnoski's single to left plated Luke Harder, who led off the sixth with a single to center and stole second, to pad the gap back to a pair, 12-10.  

Following a scoreless seventh, Suffolk continued its scoring ways with one run in the eighth and ninth, respectively. Cormier brought in Harder with a sac fly in the eighth. Harder reached on a double to left to open the inning. Walks by Roberts and Ward set up Birbiglia's RBI single. Thanks to those runs, the Rams held a 14-10 advantage as the game headed to the bottom of the ninth.  

Caleb Piwnicki, who took over for Pierce Salbego on the mound in the eight, sandwiched strikeouts around a base hit. The Wildcats used erratic pitches and singles to tack on two more runs and slice the distance down to two, 14-12. 

Thankfully, Piwnicki's defense backed up the relief as Ward gloved a long out in center to preserve the non-conference win.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Salbego secured the victory behind 3.0 innings of work in which he allowed three earned runs on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. 
• Piwnicki picked up the save in his 3.0 frames of action. He let up two runs on three hits and two walks with four punchouts. 
• Rossi started for Suffolk and gave up six runs, three earned, on seven hits and three walks with three Ks. 
• Johnson & Wales used six different hurlers on the hill. 
• Ryan Schultz took the setback with a five-run, six=hit, four-walk, one-strikeout effort in 2.2 innings of relief. 
• Wildcats' starter Aidan Donohue let up five runs on five hits and one walk with one strikeout in 1.0 inning. 
• Ben Fosberg was the most productive arm for JWU with 1.0 innings of scoreless, hitless relief work with one K to his credit.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Roberts went 4-for-5 at the plate with a triple to go along with four runs scored, two stolen bases and one RBI. 
• Harder had three hits, including one double, three runs scored, two stolen bases and one RBI. 
• Cormier contributed four RBI on a pair of hits and one sac fly with one run scored and one swiped bag.
• Birbiglia and Ward each had two hits, two RBI, one hit, one run and one sac. 
• Ward added two stolen bases. 
• Shamnoski supplied two hits and two RBI. 
• Jonny Gilbride rounded out the seven Rams with multiple hits with two of his own.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk and Johnson & Wales met for the first time since 2019. 
• The blue-and-gold bested the Wildcats for the first time since April 13, 2019. 
• The Rams snapped a four-game skid against JWU to improve to 40-19 all-time against the Wildcats. 
• Suffolk moved to 13-5 against JWU under Anthony Del Prete's guidance. 
• Roberts registered his first collegiate triple. 
• Roberts notched a personal-best in hits (4), runs (4) and stolen bases (2).
• Roberts is now on a four-game hit streak. In that stretch he has nine hits. 
• Gilbride has multi-hit games in the last two outings. 
• Shamnoski notched a season-best in hits (2) and RBI (2). The two runs brought in tie the senior's career-high.
• Cormier matched a personal-best in RBI (4) and stolen bases (1). 
• Harder tied a career-high in hits (3) and runs scored (3). 
• Painter has pushed his hit streak to six games. In that span he has a dozen hits. 
• Ward stole a personal-best two bases. 
• Salbego sat down a career-high three batters. He pitched the most innings of his career (3.0) and faced the most batters to date (15). 
• Piwnicki matched a personal-best three strikeouts. 
• Piwnicki recorded his first career save.   

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk wraps up its five-game road stretch tomorrow, Friday, April 1 at Endicott at 3:30 p.m.