Painter Deals, Baseball Takes Care of WNE in Nightcap, 6-3

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Suffolk baseball jumped out to a six-run lead in the first five frames and Harry Painter fanned 10 batters en route to a 6-3 game two victory over Western New England Sunday at the Trelease Park.   

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 6 | Western New England 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (14-12, 4-4 CCC) | Western New England (10-12, 1-4 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Max Martin started the second inning with a double to left field moved 90 feet on a productive ground out to third by Sam Armbruster and scored on Joe Norris' single to left. One out later, Norris swiped second before he scored on Painter's base hit through the left side to give the Rams a 2-0 edge.  

Another double helped Suffolk extend its advantage to three in the top of the third. This time Max Iorio knocked a two bagger to center to get the inning going. He advanced to third on Max Martin's single to center and scored thanks to Armbruster's base hit up the middle.   

A three-run fifth padded Suffolk's advantage to six. Norris kept the inning going with a two-out double down the left field line. Colin Flynn put the ball in play and a throwing error by the Golden Bears third baseman allowed the center fielder to reach easily and Norris to round home for the first run of the frame. Painter singles to the pitcher and stole second to put a pair of runners in scoring position for Alex Sorenti-Burns. The left fielder sent a two-bagger to left scenter to make it 6-0 Suffolk.  

WNE started to figure Painter out in the home half of the sixth as a sac fly and a bases loaded walk allowed the host to get on the board. The right-handed hurler managed to gain composure and got out of the bases loaded jam with his 10th K of the day as he sat Cody Waterbury down swinging to hold the 6-2 lead for the Rams.   

The score remained the same until the bottom of the ninth. With Pierce Salbego on the mound, two outs and the bases chucked, the Rams reliever walked a run in to allow WNE to pull with three. Aaron Cole, the go-ahead run, sent the ball down the first base line, but Sorenti-Burns managed to glove it and set up on first to seal the victory and doubleheader sweep for Suffolk.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Painter earned the win with a two-run, one-hit, seven-walk, 10-strikeout effort in 5.2 innings of work. 
• Salbego put together a one-run, two-hit, four-walk, one-punchout performance in 2.2 innings of reliever. 
• Gregory Kaufmann also came out of the pen for the Rams. He tossed 0.2 innings of scoreless relief and sat down a pair of batters. 
• Tanner Wall took the loss. He let up six runs, three earned, on 12 hits and had six strikeouts in 5.0 innings. 
• Cam Heeman threw 4.0 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed one hit and one walk and had two Ks.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Sorenti-Burns went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBI.
• Norris provided two hits, including one double, two runs and one RBI. 
• Painter pitched in two hits, one RBI, one run and one stolen base to the offense. 
• Armbruster chipped in one hit and one RBI, while Iorio pitched in one hit and one run. 
• Martin added two hits, one run and one walk. 
• Gilbride notched two hits. 
• Flynn registered one run.  

NOTEWORTHY

• The Rams improved to 22-22 all-time against Western New England. 
• Suffolk moved to 4-10 against WNE in the Anthony Del Prete era. 
• The blue-and-gold coupled back-to-back wins together over WNE for the first time since winning three games in a row over the Golden Bears April 30-April 8, 2006. 
• Norris matched a career-high two hits.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk takes a break from CCC play tomorrow, Monday, April 15 for a Patriots Day, Beantown Battle against Emerson at 12:00 p.m. at East Boston Memorial Park.