Baseball Tops Mt. Aloysius, 14-7

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Behind the pitching finesse of Max Iorio and handful of heavy hitting performances at the plate, Suffolk baseball won its second straight game Monday as it took down Mt. Aloysius, 14-7, at Griffith Field as part of the Ripken Experience.   

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 14 | Mt. Aloysius 7
RECORDS: Suffolk (2-2) | Mt. Aloysius (3-4)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk started the scoring in the top of the first as Garret Roberts roped a double right field and Harry Painter traded places with the designated hitter with a two-bagger of his own to nearly the exact same spot. 

Mt. Aloysius put up a six spot in the home half of the second to put the Rams in five-run, 6-1 hole.

The blue-and-gold wasted no time to get back on top as it cycled through the order to put up eight runs and regain the advantage, 9-6. That rally saw seven base hits, two each from Jonny Gilbride and Roberts.

A lead-off solo shot from Tyler Quade chipped Suffolk's lead down to two, 9-7, in the home half of the fourth. 

The Rams retaliated with three runs of their own in the top of the fifth to extend the edge to five Back-to-back walks and a wild pitch put Suffolk runners in the corners. Gilbride laced a triple to left center to clear the bags before he came in on a wild pitch for the 12-7 margin.

Suffolk went on to tack on one run in the sixth and seventh, respectively, and kept the Mounties scoreless the rest of the way behind relief from Shawn Nosky and Harder to lock up the win. 

In the sixth, Luke Harder came home on a wild pitch, after working a base on balls to reach and stealing second. An inning later, Marc Birbiglia collected RBI when his base to left center plated Roberts, who reached on a single of his own and moved into scoring position thanks to a throwing mishap by the Mounties third baseman Troy Emert.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Iorio captured the win on the hill behind 4.0 innings of work in which he gave up just one run on two hits with three walks to go along with three punchouts.
• Nosky notched 2.0 frames of scoreless relief with just two hits allowed.
• Harder shoved 1.0 inning of scoreless, hitless relief.
• Suffolk's starter Pierce Salbego put together a six-run, seen-hit, five-walk performance over 2.0 innings.
• Seth Smith started for the Mounties and took the loss after allowing seven runs, six-earned, on seven hits, one walk and one K in 2.1 innings.
• Jeremy Eck (2R, 2B), Colby Peterson (2.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 1 K) and Matthew Watkins (4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) came out of the pen for Mt. Aloysius as well. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Roberts went 5-for-6 at the dish with two doubles. He scored three times and brought in one run.
• Gilbride logged three hits including a triple, to go along with two RBI and two runs scored.
• Painter provided two hits including one double with one RBI, one run and one stolen base on his stat line.
• Harder had two hits, two RBI, two runs scored. With one stolen base.
• Corey Frassica and Michael James Jr. scored two runs apiece. The latter added one hit and one RBI as well.

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk met Mt. Aloysius for the third time.
• All three games between Suffolk and Mt. Aloysius have come on neutral diamonds.
• The Rams defeated the Mounties for the second straight meeting to move to 2-1 all-time against Mt. Aloysius.
• All three meetings between Suffolk and Mt. Aloysius have come in the Anthony Del Prete era.
• Salbego made his first collegiate start.
• Salbego saw the most batters (17) in a single outing in his collegiate career.
• Iorio notched his first decision on the bump with career-high numbers in every pitching category including batters faced (18), innings pitched (4.0) and strikeouts (3).
• Harder made his pitching debut at Suffolk.
• Roberts registered personal-bests in hits (5) and matched a career-high in doubles (2).
• Roberts' five hits in one game is the most for a Ram since Brady Chant went 5-for-6 in a 16-5 win at Tufts April 24, 2018.
• Gilbride has multiple in hits in all four of Suffolk's games this season.
• Gilbride matched a personal-best three hits, achieving the feat for the second time in his Suffolk careers, first since March 30, 2022 at Babson.
• Gilbride registered his first triple as a Ram.
• Frassica scored a career-high two runs for the second time in his collegiate career, first since March 9, 2020 against Fitchburg State. 

POST-GAME PIC
 

WHAT'S NEXT?
It'll be an early morning for Suffolk tomorrow, Tuesday, March 14 as it is scheduled to take on Rutgers Camden at 9:100 a.m. at Ebbets Field.