BOSTON – The Suffolk baseball team dropped a 7-5 decision to Worcester State as the Lancers used a four-run eighth inning to regain the advantage and defeat the Rams Friday afternoon at Kevin D. Lyons Diamond.
Suffolk had to dig itself out of three-run hole as the Lancers racked up a 3-0 lead in the first frame. Worcester State got the scoring going with two away as Adam Barry rocked a homer to right field to start the rally and Seth Leslie collected a pair of RBI on a single.
As Worcester State shuffled its arms out every inning starting in the third, the Rams took advantage and trimmed the margin in top of the fourth. Suffolk also put the runs up with two down as Seth Coiley, who drew a walk to reach, scored on a Luke Ronchi single up the middle. The right fielder's RBI single pushed Kevin Belskie, who also drew a base on balls, to third. The pair of seniors used a double steal, with Belskie coming home, to turn it into a one-run game, 3-2.
An inning later, Suffolk faced Sam Allen on the bump and put two runs away to turn the tides in its favor. Kevin Higgins led things off with a double to left field and came around thanks to Brady Chant's single up the middle. The junior centerfielder stole second moved 90 feet thanks to an error by Lancer's catcher Brian Bonacquisti and strutted home on a balk from Allen for the Rams' go-ahead run.
The Rams put more distance between WSU in the top of the eighth. An error by Lancer's third baseman Leslie let pinch runner BJ Neil cross home to make it a 5-3 Suffolk game.
Worcester State had other plans in mind, however, as they turned Suffolk's lead around with a four-run home half of the eighth to go ahead 7-5 after eight complete innings.
Suffolk would face its seventh arm of the day as it would look to rally with the top of its line-up headed to the dish. Chant led off with a walk, but a Sean Cameron 463 double play took the Rams' runner off the bags. With two outs and the game riding on Coiley's shoulders, the junior left fielder grounded out to third and the Lancers walked away with the 7-5 victory.
Chant (2-4) and Cameron (2-5) each had multiple hit days for Suffolk. Chant had added one RBI, one run and one stolen base to his state line.
Matt Brenner, Ronchi, Curtis Tirone and Higgins all produced one hit apiece in the outing with Higgins scoring one run for the Rams.
Coiley, Belskie and Neil each recorded one run apiece.
Chuck Gibson suffered his first setback of the season as the senior let up seven runs (four earned) on 14 hits with four Ks through 7.2 innings.
Tyler Zell came in for the final out of the eighth for Suffolk.
Seven different arms were used from the Lancers pen. Bradleigh Saltsman earned the decision with a one-run, two-hit, two-walk, two-strikeout effort in 2.0 frames.
Kyle Baker picked up the save allowing just one walk in the final frame.
Suffolk awaits the seeding and pairings of the NCAA Championships set to be released late Sunday or first thing Monday morning.