Baseball | 5/15/2021 8:13:00 PM
The Utica College baseball team defeated Houghton College 8-7 in a back-and-forth game three of the Empire 8 Semifinal Series on Saturday afternoon to advance to the program's first ever Empire 8 Championship Series.
Jason Story pushed across the first run of the game in the second inning on a screaming single to second base, bringing home Matthew Leviton as UC took a 1-0 lead.
Both teams were held in check until the fourth inning when the Pioneers extended its lead. Michael Muentener pieced a two-out single up the middle before proceeding to steal second. With Ryan Cardone at the plate, Muentener stole third on what was ball four while an overthrow on the play allowed Muentener to score and give Utica a 2-0 lead.
UC starter Daniel Parslow allowed his first runs of the game in the home half of the fourth when the Highlanders evened the game. A leadoff home run by Wayne Rode brought the game within one while a one-out triple to right by Dylan Boprey knotted the game at two. Houghton had a chance on a one-out chopper to shortstop to take the lead; however, Muentener cut down Boprey at home to keep the game tied after four innings.
In the fifth inning, Houghton took its first lead of the game on a one-out single to left that scored the runner from second. Parslow retired the next two batters to escape the jam with a 3-2 deficit.
After the Pioneers started the seventh inning with its first two batters reaching base, Houghton starter Ryan Newtown induced a 6-4-3 double play, bringing up Joe Battista with two away and a man on third. Battista, the second leading hitter in the conference, came through with an RBI single down the first base line to tie the game at 3-3.
Houghton regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh on a two-out, two-strike single to center by Jason Kauffeldt. Kauffeldt stole second and was singled home by Boprey to give the Highlanders a 5-3 lead. Parslow was removed following the base hit and was replaced by Brendon Sarnowski. Parslow completed 6.2 innings allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out two and walking six on 102 pitches.
In the top of the eighth inning with two outs, the Pioneers had the bases loaded. John Son and Battista worked back-to-back walks to tie the game at five before Leviton went down looking with the bases still juiced to enter the bottom of the 8th with a 5-5 score.
With two away in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Highlanders took the lead again on a double off the left field wall to carry a 6-5 lead into the 9th inning.
Sitting on 99 career hits, catcher Matthew Fitzgerald stepped up to lead off the ninth inning and knocked a single to the left field gap, recording his 100th career hit and giving UC a runner with no outs in the final inning of play. A few batters later, Muentener hit a dribbler to third base and on the throw home, Colton Weatherwax, who pinch ran for Fitzgerald, scored on a mishandle by the catcher to even the game at six.
Three batters later, Zac Cronk then came through with his biggest hit of the season. He connected for a two-out, two RBI single to center field to give the Pioneers an 8-6 lead in the ninth inning.
Griffin Baur entered the game in the ninth inning with a two-run lead to close the game out. By doing so he set the all-time UC record for appearances by a pitcher (43). With one out and two on, the Highlanders made it a one run game with a single to left by Zientara. Baur struck out the next batter for the second out, tying the Utica baseball all-time record for strikeouts and with two out and two on, David Wessells flew out to center field as UC held on for an 8-7 win and a trip to the championship series.
Utica will hit the road to take on top-seeded St. John Fisher in the Championship Series. Game one of the best-of-three series will begin on Friday, May 21 at noon. Friday will feature a doubleheader and if necessary, game three will be Saturday, May 22 at 1 pm.