Ithaca Sweeps Stevens; Fisher Sweeps Houghton
ITHACA v STEVENS
The Ithaca College baseball team took two hard-fought games from Stevens on Saturday at Freeman Field. Ithaca rode the arm of junior
Benji Parkes to a 3-0 shutout in Game One, and walked-off in the bottom of the ninth in the night cap, 7-6. Ithaca is now 17-13 on the season.
Game One: Ithaca 3, Stevens 0
The Bombers snapped Stevens' 11-game winning streak in the opener. Parkes kept the Ducks' hitters off balance all game en route to a complete game shutout with three strikeouts on just 79 pitches. Parkes is now 3-4 on the season.
Ithaca took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning on a sacrifice fly from senior
Christian Brown that scored freshman
Brennan McCormack. McCormack reached on a lead-off single.
In the top of the fourth, Stevens strung together three straight hits to load the bases with no outs, but a line drive to sophomore
Josh Savacool at second base was turned into a double play. Stevens' next batter grounded out to keep the Ducks scoreless.
Brown drove in another run in the fifth inning to give the Bombers a 2-0 lead on a double down the left field line to bring home McCormack. A double play with the bases loaded eliminated any other chance for Ithaca to score in the frame.
McCormack then put the Bombers up by three runs on a single up the middle to plate senior
Matt Connolly in the sixth.
Offensively, McCormack went 3-for-3 in the opener. Savacool and Connolly also recorded one hit each, while Connolly stole a base. Freshman
Domenic Boresta and senior
Cooper Belyea collected the other Ithaca hits.
Game Two: Ithaca 7, Stevens 6
Ithaca trailed, 5-0, after seven-and-a-half innings, but fought back to score all seven runs in its final two at bats. At one point in the contest, Ithaca was held hitless through the first five innings.
Boresta completed the comeback in Game Two for the Bombers with a line drive single to right-center which brought home junior Stephen Yanhcus as the game-winning run.
In the four-run ninth, Ithaca strung together five hits with a walk in seven batters. Senior
Ryan Henchey started things off with a walk and then Savacool singled. Henchey moved up on a fly out and scored on a Thompson base hit. Yanchus stepped in the box next and drove in Savacool to make the game 6-5, before junior Zale Cole knotted the game up at 6-6 on a single up the middle to bring in freshman pinch runner
Ryan Dougherty.
The Ducks plated a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly to take a 1-0 lead after a double moved two runners into scoring position. In the top of the sixth, Stevens tacked on three more runs to build a 4-0 advantage, highlighted by a base hit and error that led to two runs on the play. The third run came home on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the eighth, junior
Zach Pidgeon led off with a pinch hit single and Savacool followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position. A wild pitch allowed Pidgeon to score Ithaca's first run of the game and the sophomore
Trevor Thompson drove in Savacool on a line drive single to left-center to cut the Bombers' deficit to 5-2. Ithaca pulled to within two at 5-3 on a base hit to right by Connolly with the bases loaded that pushed home Thompson. The Bombers would leave the bases loaded on a ground out to first base.
Senior
Zach Dickstein started on the mound for the Bombers and went five innings in a no decision. Dickstein gave up two runs on six hits and three walks, and struck out two batters. Junior
Brandon Diorio earned the win in four innings of relief with five strikeouts. Diorio allowed five hits and four runs (one earned) for his second victory of the season.
Savacool went 3-for-5, Cole was 2-for-4, while Thompson and Boresta both batted 2-for-5.
ST. JOHN FISHER v HOUGHTON
The St. John Fisher College baseball team picked up two convincing wins on Saturday over visiting Houghton College, as the Cardinals registered 36 hits over the two game span. Fisher won game one 14-2 before taking game two, 16-6.
Fisher improves to 20-17 on the season, while Houghton falls to 17-21.
Game 1 – Fisher 14, Houghton 2
The home team erupted for nine runs in the first inning to set the tone for the day early on.
Mike Roman singled to score
Calvin Woolhiserfor the first run of the game.
Two of Fisher's five home runs in the contest came in the opening inning, a two-run shot from
Shane Barley and a solo homer from
Scott Eisenmenger.
Victor Konstantinovsky had a 2 RBI single in the inning while Barley picked up his third and fourth RBI of the game on a single later in the frame.
Malcolm Kelsey and
Nate Roethel each poked two-run home runs in the second and sixth inning, respectively. Cody Wiktorksi hit the final round tripper in the sixth inning.
Houghton added its only two runs of the game in the seventh inning.
Barley led the way on 2-of-3 hitting for four RBI. Kelsey, Konstantinovsky, and Roethel added two RBI apiece.
Stephen Lewis went the distance on the mound to move to 3-0 on the season after allowing two runs and striking out a career-high nine batters.
Game 2 – Fisher 16, Houghton 6
Fisher started off hot, just like it did in game one. The Cardinals scored four runs in the first inning, including Eisenmenger going deep with a 3-run homer to left to give Fisher a 4-0 lead.
After one run in the top of the inning from Houghton, Fisher's offense kept things rolling. Woolhiser scored on an error from the shortstop and Wiktorksi drove in two runs on a single to left later in the inning.
The Cardinals added five more runs in the fifth. Matt Cahill, Jack Vivenetto, and Roman each drove in an RBI in the inning while Barley drilled a 2 RBI double for the final runs in the frame.
Houghton was able to cut the Fisher lead to 12-6 after a five run fifth, but that is as close as they would come.
Another big inning was in store for Fisher in the eighth, scoring four more runs. Roman dropped in a blooper to score two.
Marc Iseneker picked up his fourth straight win on the hill to improve to 4-4 on the season. He went five innings, allowing three hits, one run (unearned), while striking out four.
Barley and Roman each went 4-for-6 in the game, driving in four and three RBI, respectively.