Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The baseball team forced a winner take all game two in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship on Sunday afternoon after a 7-3 win over the Suffolk Rams. The Rams needed 13 innings to defeat the Wildcats, 4-3, in the final game of the double elimination tournament at Holman Stadium in Nashua, N.H.
Suffolk would jump out to an early 2-0 lead in the first as they were able to load the bases with two outs. Junior Jon Lapolla led the inning off with a single before a walk to senior JC Collette. Sophomore Luke Ronchi extended the inning as junior Rob Marks drove in the game's first two runs with a base hit to left.
The Wildcats would answer in the third with a pair of their own. Junior Andrew Hunton (Monroe, N.Y) would lead the inning before another single by sophomore Carlos Sanabria (Pawtucket, R.I.) and a walk to Ivan Reyes (Cranston, R.I.) would load the bases. Junior Tom Elkow (Morganville, N.J.) would then even things up as he delivered a single to left center making it a 2-2 game.
Johnson & Wales would then jump ahead by a run in the sixth when sophomore Lou Umberto (Cranston, R.I.) singled home sophomore Greg Joubert (Cumberland, R.I.) who led the inning off with a single.
Suffolk would answer in the seventh as freshman Brady Chant led the inning off with a double to right. Junior Julien Plana would then hit a ground ball to short that was overthrown allowing Chant to score and advance him all the way to third. With nobody out and a chance to get ahead, junior Jake Marchesseault (Wyoming, R.I.) would escape the jam by not allowing the run home preserving the tie at 3-3.
JWU would then have a chance to take the lead as Reyes singled to lead off the inning and would later steal second with one out. Carroll would escape that jam with back to back strikeouts.
Suffolk had a chance to win it in the 10th when Lapolla opened the inning off to deep center. After a walk to Collette, Ronchi would lay down a sacrifice bunt advancing both runners up a base. Marks would then be intentionally walked but Marchesseault once again escaped danger inducing a 1-2-3 double play to end the threat.
Carroll would retire eight of the next nine hitters he faced in order as the lone base runner reached on an infield error. He would allow a two out walk in the 13th before that threat was erased when Collette threw Elkow out trying to steal second setting up the walk-off victory.
Three players for the Wildcats finished the game with a pair of hits as they put together a 12-hit attack. Senior Rob Bochetti (East Meadow, N.Y.) was 2-for-6 while Hunton and Sanabria were each 2-for-5 with a run scored.
Sophomore Ryan Cabral (Hope, R.I.) started game two for the Wildcats as he went the first six innings allowing two runs on seven hits.
Marchesseault allowed just the one run which was unearned over four innings of work as he punched out three. He also recorded the save in game one as he closed out that victory going the final four innings without allowing a run and punching out a pair.
Cabral was 1-for-4 with a pair of RBI in the opener as his triple in the eighth broke open a 4-3 game at the time.
Johnson & Wales also collected 12 hits in game one as Bochetti, Reyes, Elkow and Umberto all had a pair. Sanabria's two run single in the third inning of that ballgame made it a 3-0 game at the time. He finished game one going 2-for-4 at the plate.
Lapolla was 4-for-5 for Suffolk in game two as he also added a hit in game one.
Marks finished game two going 3-for-4 with the two RBI in the first.
Sophomore Chuck Gibson started the game for Suffolk going the first six innings as he allowed three runs on eight hits with two strikeouts.
With the victory Suffolk improves to a 17-17 overall record on the year while the Wildcats finish the season with a 20-14 record.
