Baseball Walks Off Game One with Hartford in Extras 

EAST BOSTON – An over throw by the Hawks pitcher on a bunt in the bottom of the 10th allowed Suffolk baseball to walk-off with the game one victory, 5-4, Saturday afternoon at East Boston Memorial Park.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 5 | Hartford 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (14-22, 7-8 CNE) | Hartford (17-20, 8-7 CNE) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk's scoring started in the bottom of the first. Back-to-back singles by Max Martin and Colin Flynn go the Rams' offense going. Max Iorio bunted the runners over before Chris Cimino worked a walk to fill the bases. A fielder's choice when Alex Sorenti-Burns put the ball into play allowed Max Martin to score the first run of the day.  

Hartford leveled the playing field in the top of the second. Zaynn Godbee's single to center plated Ryan Knight, who singled and moved into scoring position on Cameron Boardman's walk. 

The Rams regained the upperhand in the third. Justin Gouin came in to throw for Anthony Bubba and Flynn and Iorio knocked back-to-back singles to put a pair of runners on. A fielder's choice when Cimino put the ball into play put runners in the corners to bring up Sorenti-Burns with one out. The grad student flew out to center, which allowed Flynn to tag up and score to send the host ahead, 2-1.  

A two-run jack by Mike Mullaney in the top of the fourth extended the margin to three, 4-1. The right-handed hitter's bomb over the left field fence brought in Sebastian Lampert, who worked a walk to get the frame underway. 

A sac fly in the top of the fifth by Alex Popovic kept the back-and-forth affair going and trimmed the distance down to a pair, 4-2. 

Hartford threaten in the topo ft he sixth as all the ducks were in the pond with one out. A two-strike, two-run singles through the right side Josh Kaplan evened matters at 4-all. Pierce Salbego sat down JJ Romatzick swinging before Sam Armbruster grabbed a lined out to short for the final out of the frame to limit the damage.  

With two outs and Hawks on first and second in the seventh, Boardmann sent a hard hit ball to left field. Thankfully, Sorenti-Burns was there to make the grab and keep things tied at 4-all.  

Hartford had another chance in the top of the eighth. Another first and second scenario came up, this time Romatzick got the bunt down to move them over and he himself reached safely thanks to a bobble by Mullaney at first. The Rams' infielder thought quick on his feet and threw across the diamond to third, where he caught Godbee off the bag and Cimino made the tag for the first out of the inning. Cimino came up big on the next play as well as he converted a double play to keep things even at 4-4.  

The flair for dramatics carried into the eighth. This time Hartford juiced the bags with two outs and Godbee at the plate. The Hawks' first baseman worked a full count and connected for a long ball to right. Thankfully for Suffolk, Iorio did his job for the last out of the frame to set-up a walk-off opportunity.  

The first two Rams walked to get the bottom of the ninth underway. A double play followed by a loud out to right kept the score still and the game headed to extras. 

Jack Raimo came in and controlled Hartford in the top of the 10th to keep it a leveled playing field. Lampert sliced a single down the left field line and was replaced on the bags by pinch runner Jack Mihalchik. Mullaney put down a bunt to move Mihalchik over. The Hawks defense tried to get the lead runner, that was called safe thanks to an error as Hartford's shortstop was off the bag. With runners on first and second and no outs, Cole Hilliard laid a bunt down to move the runners over. The throw to first by Hartford's pitcher was over the first base bag, which allowed Mihalchik to come around and push Suffolk to victory.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Raimo registered the win as he tossed 1.0 inning of scoreless relief with one hit allowed. 
• Salbego compiled a four-run, 12-hit, one-walk, four-strikeout effort over 6.0 innings. 
• John McDevitt allowed two hits, five walks and one strikeout in 3.0 frames of relief. 
• Michael Featherstone took the loss as he gave up one run, unearned, on two hits and two walks in 1.0 inning of work. 
• Anthony Bubba (1 R, 3 H, 1 BB), Justin Gouin (3 R, 3 H, 2 BB), Michael Greco (2 H, 1 K) and Tyler Blumetti (1 H, 2 BB, 2 K) all saw 2.0 innings on the mound for the Hawks.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Mullaney logged two RBI on one hit, a homer, to go along with one run scored and one sac. 
• Flynn added two hits, one run and one walk. 
• Sorenti-Burns brought in two runs and had one sac fly. 
• Hilliard two hits, including one double, one run and one stolen base. 
• Iorio went 2-for-3 with one walk and one sac. 
• Cimino registered two walks and one hit. 
• Mihalchik scored one run. 
• Armbruster added one hit and one walk.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk hosted Hartford for the first time in program history. 
• The Rams and Hawks went into extra innings for the first time in the all-time series. 
• Suffolk defeated Hartford for ht efirst time in program history. 
• Mullaney knocked his first homer.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk goes for the doubleheader sweep of Hartford this afternoon.