Baseball Comes Up Short Against Rivier, 12-11

EAST BOSTON – In a back-and-forth battle, Suffolk baseball had a chance to walk-off to its first win of the season, but came up just shy to Rivier, 12-11, Tuesday afternoon at East Boston Memorial Park.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 11 | Rivier 12
RECORDS: Suffolk (0-8) | Rivier (3-6)  

HOW IT HAPPENED

• A two-out solo shot by Ross Treubig in the bottom of the second inning gave Suffolk a 1-0 early edge. 
• Rivier responded with five runs in the top of the third behind six hits including two triples to put the blue-and-gold in a 5-1 hole. 
• The Raiders added to its advantage with one run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to make it an 8-1. 
• Suffolk chipped away at the deficit in the bottom of the fifth. Singles by Will Robbins and Shayne King were sandwiched around two outs, which brought up Luke Thornton. The freshman second baseman hit the ball hard to the Raiders short, that bobbled the ball and allowed a run to come in. Cole Hilliard and Sebastian Lampert continued the offensive output with RBI base hits to bring the Rams within four, 8-4. 
• The Rams found themselves in a bases loaded, no out jam in the top of the sixth. Jackson Garcia worked his out of it with back-to-back strikeouts, one swinging and one looking, before King gloved the final out to help the blue-and-gold escape the inning with no damage and keep the four-run gap intact. 
• Suffolk continued to claw back in the home half of the seventh. Jack Mihalchik singled and Thornton walked to put two ducks in the pond before Hilliard's single to center scored one. A wild pitch allowed Thornton to come in before a balk put Hilliard on third. Sam Armbruster collected an RBI with a ground out to second to trim the deficit to one, 8-7.
• All the ground the Rams managed to make up was erased in the top of the eight as the Raiders rattled off four runs to lengthen their lead back to five, 12-7.
• The back-and-forth carried into the bottom of the eighth as the Rams answered with three runs to restore a two-run distance. With two outs and runners on first and second, Thornton cleared the bases with a triple to right field. After Hilliard walked, Raiders pitchers Brendan Ferris went to pick up the fifth-year at first. Ferris' throw was off the mark, which allowed Thornton to cross home to make it 12-10. 
• After Jack Raimo shut down the Raiders in the ninth to keep the score still Tyler Baker came in to close for Rivier. With one out, Colin Flynn singled, Stephen Nardelli worked a walk and Mike Mullaney wore a pitch to fill the bases. Shayne King plated Flynn on a fielder's choice up the middle to put the second out on the board and bring up Mihalchik. The junior sent a fly ball to center and stranded the winning as the ball was caught by Owen Medlock to end the outing in Rivier's favor.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Suffolk starter Colin McNeal took the loss as he allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks through 2.1 innings. 
• Nick Rubin (3 R, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 K, 2.2 IP), Jackson Garcia (1 H, 2 K, 1.2 IP), Jonathan Marcotte (1 H, 1 K, 0.1 IP), Ben Cassavoy (3 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB) and Raimo (2 H, 1 R, 4 K, 2.0 IP) all came out of the pen for the blue-and-gold.
• EJ Baker earned the decision. He compied a three-run, three-hit, one-walk, three-strikeout effort over 2.1 innings out of the pen. 
• Ty Baker picked up the save as he let up one run on one hit and one walk with one punchout in 1.0 inning. 
• John Horgan started for the Raiders. He allowed four runs, one earned, on six hits and one walk with three Ks through 4.2 frames of action. 
• Brendan Ferris let up three runs, two earned, on two hits and two walks in 1.0 inning of relief.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Hilliard went 3-for-4 with one triple, two RBI, one run scored and one walk. 
• Mihalchik finished with two hits and two runs. 
• Thornton tallied one hit, a triple, three runs, two RBI and one walk. 
• Flynn added two hits and one run. 
• Treubig notched one hit, a homer, one RBI and one run. 
• Lampert logged one hit and one RBI. 
• Robbins notched two runs, one hit and one walk. 
• King pitched in one hit, one RBI and one run. 
• Armbruster registered one RBI.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk and Rivier met for the first since March 11, 2023. 
• Treubig knocked his second homer of the season and of his collegiate career.
• King recorded the first RBI of his collegiate career. 
• Robbins scored a career-high two runs. 
• Hilliard, who had the first triple of his collegiate career, has safely hit in back-to-back games, and tied a personal-best three hits. 
• Thornton extended his hit streak to five games. In that stretch he has six hits including one double and two triples. The freshman also produced a career-high three runs and matched a personal-best two RBI. 
• Mihalchik matched a career-high in hits (2) and runs scored (2).   

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk hits the road Thursday, March 19 for a 7:00 p.m. at WPI.