Ithaca Baseball Wraps Regular Season With Doubleheader Sweep
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team improved to 34-6 on the season, and extended its winning streak to eight games after sweeping a doubleheader against the visiting Montclair State Red Hawks on Saturday afternoon at Freeman Field. The Bombers used 26 hits and 14 runs to cruise to two victories by the scores of 4-0 and 10-8. These were the final two regular season games for the Bombers. Ithaca will host the NCAA Regional tournament at Falcon Park in Auburn, N.Y. on May 15-19.
Ithaca 4, Montclair State 0 |
Box Score and Play-by-Play
In the first game of the day the Bombers used a stellar pitching effort by senior Jasper Adams and four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to earn the 4-0 victory. Adams was lights out through eight innings allowing just two hits and striking out five.
Scoring opportunities were hard to come by for the first six innings. The Bombers loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth inning but were unable to score as the score remained knotted at zero.
The score remained tied until the bottom of the eighth when the Ithaca offense used six hits to score four runs. The first five hitters of the inning each singled to get the scoring started. Christian Brown singled to right center and was followed by a bunt single by Tim Locastro. With runners on first and second Tim Henry singled through the left side to score Brown. Locastro later scored and Henry advanced to third after a throwing error by the left fielder. Colby Gee then followed with an RBI single that scored Henry. After a singles by Corey Caswell and Matt Connolly loaded the bases, Luke Stark hit a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Gee and making the score 4-0.
Jasper Adams earned the win to improve to 5-0 on the year. Jimmy Wagner pitched the ninth inning, striking out one. Brown, Gee and Connolly each had two hits in the game. Henry, Gee, and Stark had the team's three runs batted in.
Ithaca 10, Montclair State 8 |
Box Score and Play-by-Play
The Bombers started scoring early and used another great pitching performance by Pat Lemmo to earn a win in the second game of the day.
In the bottom of the second inning Cameron Oathout and Jared Amory each singled to start the inning. The next batter, Brian Burns, bunted to advance the runners but reached on an error to load the bases after the throw to first base was dropped. Cooper Belyea then singled to score both Oathout and Amory and make the score 2-0. Burns later scored from third on a double play to increase the Bombers lead to 3-0.
In the fourth inning the Ithaca offense scored three more runs to make the score 6-0. Oathout tripled for his second hit of the game to lead off the inning and later scored when Amory hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Brian Burns then doubled to left field and scored one batter later when Belyea tripled down the right field line. One batter later Matt Connolly hit a sacrifice fly to score Belyea and make the score 6-0.
The Bombers surrendered two runs in the top of the sixth inning but answered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. To start the inning Oathout notched his third hit of the game. Amory then reached on a fielding error to put runners on first and second. After both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch, Brian Burns singled to score Oathout. Amory later scored as Connolly tallied his second RBI of the game after grounding out to the pitcher.
The Bombers added to their lead in the bottom half of the eighth inning when they used four hits to score two more runs. Oathout and Amory both singled to lead off the inning. Oathout then scored his fourth run of the game as Cooper Belyea tallied an RBI single. Belyea later came around to score on a double down the right field line off the bat of Matt Connolly.
Oathout had four hits in the game and scored four runs. Cooper Belyea had three hits and four runs batted in. Connolly, Amory, and Burns had two hits apiece.
Seven different Bomber pitchers saw action in the game. Pat Lemmo improved to 9-0 on the season, going five innings giving up just three hits, and striking out five. Jimmy Wagner entered the game in the ninth inning with the bases loaded and recorded three outs to earn his first save of the season.