Bombers Rally To Beat RIT To Earn Doubleheader Split
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The baseball team (6-6, 1-1 Empire 8) opened Empire 8 play Sunday, splitting a doubleheader against Rochester Institute of Technology (7-9, 1-1 Empire 8). The Bombers dropped the opener 7-0 and rallied for a 6-4 win in game two.
A two-out double by junior left fielder Teagen Barresi (Lansing/Lansing) in the top of the seventh (the Bombers batted as the visiting team in both games, since the doubleheader was moved to Ithaca because of poor field conidtions at RIT) broke a 4-all tie in the nightcap.
Barresi's hit -- which raised his season average to .457 -- brought home third baseman David Ahonen (Victor/Farmington), a graduate student, and senior first baseman Trevor Wolf (Lansing/Freeville). Ahonen singled to left after the Tigers retired the first two batters in the inning and Wolf followed with a hustling double to ledt center.
RIT scored single runs in each of the first three innings to wipe out Ithaca's 2-0 lead, then rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the sixth after the Bombers used single runs in the fourth and fifth to retake the lead.
RBI hits by Ahonen and Wolf put Ithaca up 2-0 in the top of the first. Ahonen doubled in senior right fielder Matt Streich (East Greenwich/East Greenwich, R.I.) then scored the first of his three runs on the day on Wolf's single through the right side.
Freshman catcher Bill Collins (Easthampton/Easthampton) brought home the tying run with a run-scoring fielder's choice in the fourth. Ahonen put the Bombers ahead an inning later; he walked on four pitches, took second when Wolf was hit by a pitch, moved to third on a fly ball and stole home when Wolf took off for second and stayed in a rundown long enough for the run to score and return safely to first himself.
Ahonen and Wolf both finished with two of Ithaca's eight hits.
Junior Tucker Healy (Needham/Needham, Mass.) earned his first win of the season, in relief of senior Dan Lynch (Williamsville South/East Amherst). Healy allowed two hits over his two innings of work, striking out two Tigers.
Lynch lowered his ERA to 3.24, giving up two earned runs over five innings. He struck out four hitters and didn't issue a walk.
The Bombers were held to three hits in game one, snapping their three-game losing streak. Ithaca put runners on base in four of the first five innings, but RIT threw out a runner at home to end the first and turned a double play to end the fifth.
Game one box score
Game two box score