Baseball | 4/15/2023 7:05:00 PM
UTICA, NY - The Utica University baseball team secured a series win over the Elmira College Soaring Eagles on Saturday by taking both games of the doubleheader. The Pioneers walked-off to take game one 4-3 before ending the second game after eight innings with an 11-1 victory.
Utica 4, Elmira 3 (7 Inn.)
Joe Crossley, Dom Fasolo, John Longeretta, Matthew Kanyuk and Steve Sclafani each had one hit in the win. Joe Battista led the team with two RBIs while John Son and Antonio Martinez drove in one each.
On the hill, Ryan Cardone ended with a no decision after going four innings allowing three runs on six hits while striking out and walking four apiece. Dylan Sullivan tossed two shutout frames while Connor Ford added 0.2 shutout innings and the winning pitcher, Brendan May, earned the win after recording the final out of the 7th on two pitches.
Elmira started off the game with a leadoff single before the runner was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. With a runner on second base and one out, Cardone found his way out of the inning with a flyout and a groundout.
In the Pioneer half of the 1st, Joe Crossley leadoff with a walk but would get stranded on third base as the game moved into the 2nd scoreless.
Both teams left runners stranded in scoring position in the 2nd inning as the game remained scoreless entering the 3rd.
It would be in the 3rd where Elmira struck first. A leadoff single was turned into a three-bagger on a fielding error by left fielder Dom Fasolo. That run ultimately came across on a single while two others scored on a bases-loaded single later in the frame.
Utica once again left runners stranded in the bottom of the 3rd while later in the top of the 4th, Cardone worked around a leadoff walk as the Pioneers stepped up in the bottom of the frame, still down by three.
The Pioneers were unable to do any damage as no one reached base in the bottom of the 4th inning. Score remained 3-0 in favor of Elmira.
Cardone was pulled after allowing a leadoff single to begin the 5th however, Dylan Sullivan induced a 463 double play for two quick outs. The next batter he saw popped out to Tyler Jennings at first base to end the away half.
Utica threatened in the bottom of the 5th inning with runners on the corners and one out. However, Elmira produced a 463 double play to end the bottom half and keep the Pioneers off the board. In the top of the 6th, Sullivan escaped a bases loaded jam to keep the team's deficit at three runs with six outs to play with.
In the bottom of the 6th, the Pioneers left runners stranded on second and third again as the team remained down 3-0 entering the final frame.
A combination of Connor Ford and Brendan May on the hill allowed Utica to get out of the top of the half still down by just three runs.
Magic occurred in the bottom half of the 7th. Back-to-back walks worked by Steve Sclafani and Joe Crossley, followed by a Dom Fasolo single, set the Pioneers up with the bases juiced and no outs.
John Son walked home a run to make it a 3-1 game while heads-up play during Joe Battista's at-bat would even the score. Battista launched the ball to deep left center field for a sacrifice fly. While Corssley scored easily, Tom Ziskin took two bases and hustled home from second to tie the game 3-3.
Two batters later, Antonio Martinez drove the ball to deep center, allowing John Son to score from third for the walk-off win.
Utica 11, Elmira 1 (8 Inn.)
Joe Crossley and Andrew Salbinski led the team with two hits each; Salbinski doing so with a pair of triples. The pair also finished tied for the team lead with three RBIs each.
Kooper Knabe continued what has been a magical freshman campaign with another complete game win, moving him to 6-0 on the season. Over his eight frames of work, Knabe allowed just one run on five hits while striking out three and walking none.
Through the first five innings of play, Knabe made quick work of Elmira as he allowed no runs on a mere three hits. However, the Utica offense failed to produce runs for the rookie until the team found its spark in the bottom of the 5th.
Joe Crossley opened the team's scoring with a two RBI single up the middle before he went around to score on a wild pitch. John Longeretta drove in the fourth and final Pioneer run of the frame as Knabe entered the 6th with a 4-0 cushion.
That would be the same inning his lone blemish would come however, he remained poised and got out of the 6th with just the one run allowed.
The team picked him up with two runs in the bottom half thanks to a successful squeeze play by Steve Sclafani and another RBI single off the bat of Crossley. In the 7th, Silbinski tripled home John Son before he was brought home on a Brendan May groundout.
With the score still 8-1 entering the 8th, the Pioneers tacked on their final three runs to end the game via 10-run rule to cap off its doubleheader sweep.
Utica (18-8, 9-2 Empire 8) and Elmira will complete the three-game set with a single game at noon on Sunday.
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