Mass. Maritime Sneaks by Baseball, 9-7

EAST BOSTON – Down four for most of the contest, Suffolk baseball mounted a comeback in the seventh, grabbed the lead in the eighth, but could not hold onto it as Mass. Maritime rallied in the ninth to take down the Rams, 9-7, Tuesday afternoon at East Boston Memorial Park.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 7 | Mass. Maritime 9
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-4) | Mass. Maritime (5-7)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Garret Roberts tripled to left center and strutted in on Jonny Gilbride's single to center to push Suffolk up 1-0 in the first.  

A pair of Rams errors helped Mass. Maritime tack on five runs, all unearned, in the third to put the blue-and-gold in a four-run hole. 

Suffolk's offense was stagnant until the seventh. Roberts came up to the plate with Rams on first and second thanks to a lead-off single by Jack Mihalchik and a walk from Cole Hilliard. The senior designated hitter swung at the first pitch and barreled it down the right field line over the fence to pull the blue-and-gold within one.  

The scoring did not stop there as the bases filled up on a Harry Painter double, an infield single by Max Iorio and a base on balls from Alex Sorenti-Burns. With two outs, Sam Armbruster worked a walk to bring the tying run in.  

The Rams got the go-ahead in the home half of the eighth. In his first Joe Norris walked and took second on a passed ball. Roberts' ground out to second moved Norris over before Gilbride wore a pitch to put runners in the corners. The Buccaneers attempted to turn the double play when Painter struck the ball to the left side of the infield. Suffolk's junior reached first safely, and Norris crossed home to send the home team ahead, 6-5. 

Gregory Kaufmann came in to wrap things for Suffolk, but erratic pitching the right-handed hurler put all the ducks in the pone in time for Alec Marsden's bases clearing triple to left center. Two outs and a hit by pitch later, a failed pick-off attempt by Kauffman allowed another MMA runner to come in and stretch the distance to three, 9-6, as the game headed to the bottom of the ninth. 

With one out, Max Martin capitalized on an error by the Bucs' third baseman before Armbruster's triple to right field brought him in. Suffolk's comeback ended there, however, as Mihalchik went down swinging and Norris sent a long out to right field for the 9-7 final. 

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Kaufmnn took the loss after given up four runs, three earned, on one hit and one walk with one strikeout in 1.0 inning out of the pen. 
• Starter Brett Bucklin allowed five runs, all unearned, on seven hits and two walks with seven punchouts in 5.0 frames. 
• Jack Raimo logged 3.0 frames of scoreless relief. He let up just three hits and walked two. 
• Brenden Baiardi earned the win. He compiled a two-run (one earned), one-hit, one-walk and one-strikeout in 2.0 innings of relief. 
• Nolan Kennedy started and compiled a one-run, five-hit, two-walk, two-strikeout effort in 5.0 innings. 
• Nick Iannone fired a scoreless, hitless inning of relief. 
• Michael Logiudice gave up four runs on four hits and four walks with one K in 1.0 inning of relief.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Roberts registered two hits, both for extra bases, a triple and homer, to bring in three runs and score two himself. 
• Painter provided a 3-for-5 effort with one double and one triple to go along with one RBI and one run scored. 
• Armbruster supplied a 2-for-4 effort that featured one triple, two RBI and one walk.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk and Mass. Maritime met for the first time since 2018. 
• Bucklin sat down a personal-best seven hitters. 
• Roberts hit his first homer of the season. 
• Armbruster tied a career-high two hits and hit the first triple of his collegiate career.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk heads to Northboro, Massachusetts, tomorrow, Wednesday, March 20 for a 3:30 p.m. midweek outing at WPI.