Ithaca Wraps Up Regular Season By Knocking Off #26 Montclair State 7-6
Upper Montclair, N.J. -- The Ithaca College baseball team (27-8-1) closed out the regular season by winning for the ninth straight game, rallying to beat #26 Montclair State (27-13) 7-6 Saturday. Sophomore shortstop Tim Locastro singled in the tying run in the eighth inning and came around to score the winning run on an infield throwing error.
Locastro drove in three runs and collected eight total bases, matching career-highs in each category. He led off the game with his third home run of the season and his run-scoring triple an inning later highlighted Ithaca’s three-run second.
Senior first baseman Mike Preite opened the second inning, reaching on the first of the Red Hawks’ five errors. He scored on sophomore catcher Corey Caswell’s ground-rule double and after
Locastro tripled down the left field line on an 0-2 pitch, senior center fielder Mike Rosenbaum followed with an RBI single.
Caswell finished with three hits, including a pair of doubles, and upped his average to .407. He’s raised his batting average nearly 100 points since the first of April.
Montclair State put three runs on the board in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead and the Bombers answered two innings later with the tying run. Sophomore third baseman Colby Gee singled and scored on a double by freshman Vinnie Gneo. The Red Hawks took their final lead with a run in the bottom of the seventh to go up 6-5 before Ithaca’s two-run eighth-inning rally.
Senior Tucker Healy, the last of Ithaca’s four pitchers, earned the win to even his record at 3-3. He entered with the bases loaded in the seventh after Montclair State had taken the lead.
Healy picked up the first of his four strikeouts to escape trouble, then worked out of jams in each of the last two innings.
In the bottom of the eighth the Red Hawks used a single, wild pitch and sacrifice bunt to move the tying run to third with one out but
Healy shut the door with a strikeout and lineout to center field. An inning later the first two Montclair State batter reached base before Healy fanned two straight batters on six total pitches. A full-count walk loaded the bases before
Healy closed out the game by retiring the final hitter on a fly ball.
The Bombers await Monday morning's announcement of the NCAA playoff field. Ithaca is one of four Pool B teams to appear in the third and final NCAA regional rankings; two Pool B teams are guaranteed spots in the 56-team field.
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