Ithaca Baseball Sweeps Saturday Doubleheader At Stevens
HOBOKEN, N.J. -- The Ithaca College baseball team used late-inning heroics for the second-straight game to take the opener of a doubleheader at Stevens Institute of Technology by a 5-4 score in 12 innings. In the second game, a stellar pitching performance boosted Ithaca to the Saturday sweep in a 5-1 final. The victories gave Ithaca a nine-game winning streak and the Bombers are 13-4 overall. The same two teams will meet in a doubleheader Sunday at Stevens' Dobbelaar Field.
ITHACA 5, STEVENS 4 (12 inn.) |
Box Score and Play-by-Play
John Stanley's solo home run to right field in the top of the 12th inning proved to be the winning run as Ithaca took the first game of the doubleheader. It was the first-career collegiate home run for Stanley, who is carrying a five-game hitting streak and batting .400 over that time.
Ithaca held an early 3-0 lead with two runs in the second inning and another in the fourth in support of starting pitcher
John Prendergast, but Stevens rallied with two in the fifth and one in the sixth to send the game to extra innings. Each team scored a single run in the eighth, and the game extended to the 12th where Stanley delivered the decisive shot.
Prendergast worked nine innings, allowing seven hits and two walks. Three of the four Stevens runs were earned. Prendergast had six strikeouts.
Jimmy Wagner earned the victory in relief. He pitched three scoreless innings with three strikeouts, and allowed no hits and no walks. The only runner to reach base reached on a a strikeout. Wagner is 2-0 on the season.
Ithaca's second-inning runs came on an RBI single from
Stephen Yanchus that brought home
Matt Connolly, and the second run scored on a double-steal when
Luke Stark took second and Yanchus raced home. In the fourth,
Colby Gee singled, stole second base and scored on a single by
Trevor Thompson.
In the top of the eighth, Ithaca loaded the bases with nobody out, and after a strikeout and infield force out, Stark singled to right to bring in the go-ahead run with two away. The Bombers committed two errors in the bottom of the inning to allow Stevens to tie the game. That set up Stanley's moment in the 12th, the second-straight game that Ithaca won on a game-winning homer.
ITHACA 5, STEVENS 1 |
Box Score and Play-by-Play
Scoreless early innings led to Ithaca taking the lead in the top of the fifth. The Bombers loaded the bases with two outs and two runs came across when
Tim Henry and
Colby Gee were each hit by a pitch. Ithaca scored twice in the inning with just one hit.
The Bombers added two more runs in the top of the sixth.
Zach Cole reached on an error and went to third on a double by
Stephen Yanchus, and then Cole scored on an outfield throwing error.
Luke Stark later singled to move Yanchus to third, and he scored on a
Cooper Belyea squeeze bunt.
An insurance run in the top of the ninth when
John Stanley walked, stole second, and moved to third on a hit by
Colby Gee. A wild pitch brought home Stanley with Ithaca's fifth run.
Those four runs were plenty of support for starting pitcher
Benji Parkes, who improved to 2-2 on the year with a complete-game effort. He allowed just three hits and one unearned run. He struck out five Stevens batters and walked none and completed the nine-inning victory in just 105 pitches.
Yanchus was 2-for-2 and scored twice in the game. Each team committed three errors