Sports Mama: April 24, 2008

My site was nominated for The Blogitzer!

Suffolk University men's Baseball Claims Fifth GNAC Regular Season Crown Of Decade With League Sweep Of Johnson & Wales

Hey all, its Sports mama reporting after a bit of a hiatus that was not at all planned!

As you all might or might not know Suffolk University men's baseball team went undefeated in their division this season!

This means that they clinched their division title and are now in the race for a championship!

Even though I had been unable to update everyone post wise, I have been putting as many of the pictures as I took on the site.

Couple of players to point out would be first;

Jose Alejandro, who was voted GNAC player of the week for his performance last month in Arizona, where he batted a beastly .500, is that even possible? Amazing!

He continued on the streak upon his return to Massachusetts. This is direct from the Suffolk University webpage:

Jose Alejandro, a sophomore from Lowell, Mass., was named as the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Baseball Player of the Week for his efforts in the Rams' 5-1 week at the Greater Phoenix RussMatt Invitational, including collecting four hits each in wins over Macalester (11-8) and Colby (12-4). Alejandro drove in three runs in a doubleheader sweep of Southern Maine (7-3, 11-10) and scored seven runs in Suffolk's six contests on the week.

I must also note that even thought he was gravely sick during the first Saturday's game against Johnson and Wales, due to a nasty flu and strep, he still had an amazing game offensively. He was taken out of the game after the seventh inning when the game went into extra innings. Even though he wound up in the emergency room during the second game his team mates made sure they took care of business and won both games to complete their undefeated season!

Love those RAMS!

Another player worth mentioning is none other than

Bobby Barrett, number 6, the catcher. Not only is this kid a virtual wall behind the plate, but he has the pop in his bat to ensure that his team comes out ahead. Case in point was Saturday's pivotal game against Johnson and Wales. The game had been tied for ten innings 3-3 when Bobby hit a single to get on first base. He was advanced on an error to second, another single to get him to third and a throwing error sent him home for the game winning run.

He has been a consistent hitter throughout the whole season and just an amazing driving force behind the plate! This is also directly from the Suffolk Athletic page:

QUINCY, Mass.-- Sophomore Bobby Barrett (Milton, Mass.) scored the winning run on a throwing error in the bottom of the 10th inning to propel Suffolk to a 4-3 opening game triumph over Johnson & Wales and gave the host Rams their fifth Great Northeast Athletic Conference baseball regular season championship of the decade Saturday afternoon at Adams Field. Junior Dan D'Elia (Boston, Mass.) completed the sweep for Suffolk by tossing a complete-game four-hitter in the nightcap for an 11-2 victory.

The Rams (23-8, 14-0 Great Northeast), who claimed the league regular season crown for the first time since 2005, jumped out to a 1-0 lead in their first at-bat in the opener on a sacrifice fly by junior Keith Carter (Newburyport, Mass.), but the visiting Wildcats (23-14, 11-3 Great Northeast) evened matters in the second on an RBI single by junior Eric Rapuano (Clinton, Conn.) and grabbed a 2-1 edge in the fifth on a run-scoring single by senior Mike Wengzn (Manchester, Conn.). That score held up until the bottom of the seventh when Suffolk forced extra frames on senior Nick Martinho's (Middleton, Mass.) game-tying RBI single with two outs, and the two teams traded runs in the eighth, with senior Mike Ziman (Bridgeport, Conn.) giving Johnson & Wales a 3-2 advantage with a run-scoring single before junior Paul Vittozzi (North Reading, Mass.) plated Barrett with the tying run in the bottom of the inning with another two-out single. The Wildcats had a chance to take the lead in the 10th with runners at second and third and two out but could not score, as Barrett led off the bottom of the frame with a single, advanced to second on an error, to third on a single by junior Anthony Iacopucci (Medford, Mass.) before scoring the game-winner on a error.

Martinho, Vittozzi and sophomore Tim Corcoran (Beverly, Mass.) each rapped out a pair of hits in the opening game win for Suffolk, as senior Greg DiMarco (Newton, Mass.) picked up his second win in relief of fellow senior Steve Durant (Malden, Mass.), who scattered four hits and fanned seven over the first 8 1/3 innings of play. Rapuano collected two hits in the first contest for Johnson & Wales, as senior Erik Hufnagel (Sykesville, Md.) scattered nine hits and struck out 15 over nine-plus innings, with fellow senior Josh Hodge (Sherburne, N.Y.) taking the loss.

The Rams jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead in the nightcap when sophomore Rory Gentile (Gloucester, Mass.) hit his second homer to lead off a game this season (his fifth of the spring), while an error and a Corcoran RBI groundout accounted for the other two runs. Suffolk extended its advantage to 8-0 in the third with a five-run rally, highlighted by Vittozzi's two-run single and Martinho's two-run homer, his eighth of the season. The two squads traded two-run rallies in the fourth before Barrett closed out the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, as he was one of seven Rams to notch two hits in the nightcap triumph, joining Carter, Martinho, Iacopucci, Vittozzi, and juniors Nick Chioffi (South Burlington, Vt.) and Chris Barber (Falmouth, Mass.). D'Elia took care of the rest on the mound for the hosts, scattering four hits and fanning three for his fifth win in seven decisions on the season. Junior Jonathan Melendez (Providence, R.I.) suffered the setback on the mound for Johnson & Wales, allowing 12 hits in 3 1/3 innings, as both he and senior Mike Manley (Verona, N.J.) drove in runs in the second contest for the Wildcats.

Both teams will earn a bye into the Great Northeast Championships as the top two seeds in the tournament, which will begin on Tuesday with preliminary round action and move on to a double-elimination format on Thursday at Holman Stadium in Nashua, N.H. Complete playoff pairings will be announced by the conference office on Monday morning.

I am sure that Bobby will continue to do amazing things with this team!

Another player also worth mentioning is pitching

sensation, number 21, Dan Delia;

His pitching is consistent and he knows how to work his way around the strike zone quite effectively. Not only that, he is also a solid hitter who helps himself out offensively. This is another kid I think we are going to continue to see great things from!

Suffolk University's next game is tomorrow night, Thursday April 24, 2008 at 5:00PM against St. Joseph's of Maine. The game will be at our home field, Adams field in Quincy.

Once again I will take as many pictures as possible and will do more up close coverage with some of the other players.