Nichols Takes CCC Doubleheader Over Baseball 

DUDLEY, Mass. – Suffolk baseball fell in both games of a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) double feature to Nichols Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS
GAME 1 SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Nichols 10
GAME 2 SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Nichols 4
RECORDS: Suffolk (19-17, 4-10 CCC) | Nichols (17-15-1, 7-7-1 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk's offense did not get going until the sixth inning in game one and at that point the Rams already found themselves down eight. 

The teams traded one run in the sixth and eighth to keep the eight-run margin intact, 10-2, as the game headed to the ninth.  

Shane Lake led off the ninth with a solo shot to right center. The dinger looked to jump start a rally and Timothy McCarthy followed suit with a base hit. A looking K was followed by a base on balls to put Rams on first and second with Joe Ward at the plate. The center fielder fouled out to five and the Bison doubled up McCarthy at second to end the setback. 

In the nightcap, it was Suffolk that poked onto the board first as Garret Roberts led off the game with a homer to left center.  

Nichols responded three innings later with a two-run home half of the third to go ahead, 2-1. The deficit did not last long as Suffolk leveled the playing field in the top of the fourth. Blase Cormier's double down the left field line brought in Harry Painter, who reached on a walk, to make it a 2-all game.  

Following a scoreless fifth, Marc Birbiglia sent the ball out of the park to push the Rams advantage to a pair, 3-1. 

The score stood still from there until the bottom of the ninth. Steven Rossi came in to close. Nichols had other things in mind as Brennan Hyde and Brad Ellis produced back-to-back bombs to produce a 4-3 walk-off win for the host.

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Roberts took the loss in the opener after giving up eight runs, five earned on 12 hits and one walk with four strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work. 
• Caleb Piwnicki came out of the pen in the opener for 3.1 innings and let up two runs on three hits and one walk with five strikeouts. 
• Justin Hurley earned the win for the Bison in game one with a two-run, eight-hit, three-walk, six-strikeout effort in 7.1 innings.
• Brendan Duffy tossed 1.2 innings of relief after Hurley and had a one-run, three-hit, one-walk, two-strikeout performance in 1.2 innings.
• In game two, Shawn Nosky started and went 5.0 innings for Suffolk. He compiled a two-run, four-hit, two-walk, two-punchout stat line. 
• Nick Reiser was impressive in relief with 3.0 innings of scoreless work with one hit and walk allowed, respectively, to go along with three Ks. 
• Rossi slipped up on the hill giving up two runs on two hits, both homers, to lose the nightcap.
• Owen Sullivan earned the decision in game two behind 2.2 frames of scoreless, hitless relief work for the Bison. He sat down five Rams and walked one batter.
• Ben Webber opened the second game of the day for Nichols and put together a three-run, seven-hit, one-walk, three-strikeout effort in 6.1 innings.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Ward stood out offensively in game one with a 3-for-5 effort and one RBI. 
• Jonny Gilbride also had multiple hits with a 2-for-4 showing to go along with one run scored. 
• Lake rocked a one-run homer in game one, while Birbiglia did the same thing in game two.  
• Cormier contributed three hits, one in the opener, two in game two, including a double. He added one RBI on the afternoon. 
• Luke Harder went 2-for-4 in the nightcap.  

NOTEWORTHY

• The Rams now have 31 dingers on the year, the most for Suffolk since 2008 when the blue-and-gold barreled 33 bombs. 
• Suffolk had multiple home runs in a single game for the 12th time this season. 
• The Rams produced jacks in three straight games for the second time this year, first since have two homers in a doubleheader at Curry (March 26) and two in a 7-1 win at Babson (March 30).   
• Lake had his second collegiate homer, both of which have come this season. 
• Birbiglia notched his second homer of the year, fourth of his career. 
• Roberts registered his seventh bomb of the season. 
• Birbiglia (4 games), Cormier (5 games) and Seariac (9 games) extended their hit streaks.  

COMING UP
Suffolk heads to Brandeis tomorrow, Sunday, May 1 for a non-conference double feature at Brandeis.