Ithaca and Stevens Win on the Road
ITHACA v HOUGHTON
The Ithaca College baseball team ran its winning streak to three games with a doubleheader sweep of Houghton on Thursday afternoon at Kerr-Pegula Stadium in Houghton. As these games were originally scheduled to be played at Freeman Field, but moved to Houghton for field conditions, Ithaca batted in the bottom of the inning as the home team in each game. Ithaca improved to 7-4 on the year, while Houghton went to 6-7.
Game 1
The Bombers took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, added four more in the fourth, and went on to a victory. Ithaca's three-run rally in the first inning started when an error allowed runners to score from second and third.
Matt Connolly doubled later in the inning to put runners on second and third and a fielder's choice brought in Ithaca's third run of the inning.
In the fourth, Ithaca loaded the bases with nobody out on a double by
Brian Burns, a single from
Luke Stark and a walk by
Cooper Belyea. A walk to
John Stanley brought in a run,
Tim Henry singled in another run and Connolly singled to drive in two runs.
Starting pitcher
John Prendergast worked five innings of the seven-inning contest and allowed just one hit and no runs. He had seven strikeouts and no walks.
Ryan Contegni pitched the final inning and two-thirds to finish up the contest.
Connolly led Ithaca with two hits in the game, as Ithaca had just six total hits, but capitalized on five walks, three Houghton errors, and a hit batter.
Game 2
In the second half of the doubleheader, Ithaca scored twice in the first to gain an early lead. An infield error with the bases loaded brought in the first run, and
Brian Burns singled in the second run.
Another run came in the bottom of the fourth when Burns led off with a double and later scored on an RBI single by
Christian Brown. In the sixth,
Colby Gee singled to start the inning. He stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on an error.
Ithaca starter
Benji Parkes picked up his first win of the season. He pitched into the seventh inning and allowed seven hits and one earned run. He had four strikeouts and no walks.
Jimmy Wagner entered the game in the seventh with a 4-1 lead, stifled the rally by inducing a groundout, and closed out the game for his first save of the year. Wagner allowed three hits and a walk, an earned run, and struck out one batter.
Gee had three hits for Ithaca and Burns had two hits including a double. The Bombers totaled 11 hits in the game and three stolen bases.
STEVENS
The Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team improved to 9-4 on the season with a 6-2 victory at William Paterson University on Thursday afternoon. Six different players for Stevens drove in a run as the Ducks never trailed in the contest.
The Ducks jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings on manufactured offense. In the first, senior
Curt Lowenstein (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) led off the game by reaching on an error and moved up to third after a single from junior
Brian Hennelly (Holbrook, N.J.) and another error for William Paterson (5-6). Sophomore
Jayson Yano (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) brought Lowenstein home in the next at bat with a groundout.
Stevens scored three more times in the second on four hits and a sacrifice fly. Freshmen
Zeph Walters (Diamond Bar, Calif.) and
Nolan Bennett (Chatsworth, Calif.) got things started with back-to-back singles. Freshman Brett Viola (Carmel, N.Y.) then doubled to plate Walters and junior
Marc Calleo (Bayville, N.J.) brought Bennett home on the sac fly. After a wild pitch moved Viola to third, sophomore
Nicholas Sieber (Shrewsbury, Mass.) recorded an RBI base hit to give the Ducks a 4-0 advantage.
William Paterson got on the board in the bottom of the fourth after Walters baffled the Pioneers in their first three at bats. Walters only allowed three base runners with two strikeouts through three, but two doubles in the fourth allowed William Paterson to score its first run.
Walters would throw one more inning to pick up his second win of the season and surrendered just three hits with three punch outs.
The Ducks pushed their lead out to 6-1 in the fifth on a sac fly from junior
Ryan Mannello (Staten Island, N.Y.) and an RBI single from Bennett. Hennelly and Yano reached on singles to begin the frame and a wild pitch moved both into scoring position before the sac fly by Mannello. With one out, Bennett singled through the left side which allowed Yano to cross the dish.
Sophomore
Daniel McIntyre (Lakeway, Texas) entered the game in the sixth for the Ducks and gave up an unearned run on a fielder's choice. Junior
Gary Boardman (Staten Island, N.Y.), sophomore
Ryan Patterson (Staten Island, N.Y.) and senior
Dan Allen (Egg Harbor Township, N.Y.) each threw an inning of work and all fanned two hitters to close out the game.
Hennelly and Bennett both went 2-for-4, while Sieber (1-for-5), Yano (1-for-5), Walters (1-for-4) and Viola (1-for-4, double) each had one hit.