EAST BOSTON, Mass. – The Norwich University baseball team dropped a tough pair of games to two-time defending Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) champion Suffolk University on Saturday afternoon in both team's league openers. 

Suffolk (8-6, 2-0 GNAC) won 4-3 in Game 1 and then 3-1 in Game 2 despite a career-high 10 strikeouts from senior Kyle Farquharson (South Ryegate, Vt.) on the mound for the Cadets. He surrendered just three runs on three hits and three walks, but it wasn't enough as he fell to 1-3 on the year. 

Norwich (5-13, 0-2 GNAC) managed three hits in Game 2 with Kevin Lynch (Randolph. Mass.), Matt Sirois (Southington, Conn.) and Eddie Gates (Griswold, Conn.) all notching base hits. Brandon Pedley (Northfield, Vt.) scored in the top of the first inning with an unearned run on an error by Suffolk's third baseman. 

Suffolk used a three-run bottom of the second to score all of its runs in an otherwise dominant effort from Farquharson on the hill. 

In the opener, Suffolk raced out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning that the Rams never looked back from. 

Norwich outhit Suffolk 6-4 in the game, led by two hits and two RBIs from Oliver Brown (Waldoboro, Maine). Jacob Barlow (Newburyport, Mass.), LaShawn Thomas (San Antonio, Texas), Pedley and Lynch each had hits as well. Sirois had a RBI as well. 

The Cadets battled back from the early 3-0 hole with two runs in the top of the fourth inning with Brown singling through the right side to score Drew Caldwell (Hanover, Mass.) and Sirois.  

Suffolk tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth before Norwich got one back in the top of the fifth. 

Billy Whaley (Northfield, Vt.) got the start in the opener, lasting four innings, giving up one earned run on four hits and four walks while striking out three. He fell to 1-4 on the year. 

Norwich travels to Albertus Magnus on Sunday for another GNAC doubleheader slated to start at 2 p.m.