#24 Baseball Splits Doubleheader With RIT

Fishback pitched his first career complete game.

Rochester, N.Y. -- The #24 baseball team (12-4, 3-1 Empire 8) won its eighth straight, beating host Rochester Institute of Technology (4-12, 1-3 Empire 8) 6-1 in game one of Saturday's Empire 8 doubleheader. The Tigers won game two 2-1 for their second win in their last 12 games. The Bombers, who are now 63-16 all-time against RIT, the coaches' pick to win the 2009 Empire 8 title. Junior Tom Fishback (Penfield/Webster) and sophomore Dan Lynch (Williamsville South/East Amherst) both pitched complete games for the Bombers.

Fishback started the first game, and allowed just an unearned run over his seven innings of work. He held the Tigers to just three hits, all of them singles. He improved to 2-2 on the season, picking up his second win of the week.

The Bombers got on the board early, with senior Matt Samela (Staples/Westport, Conn.) doubling to lead off the game and eventually scoring on an infield error.

Junior Mike Armstrong (Penfield/Penfield) drove in the Bombers second run with a double in the second inning. Sophomore Matt Streich (East Greenwich/East Greenwich, R.I.) had an RBI double of his own in the third, driving in seniors Kurt Bednarcyk (Fairport/Fairport) and Dylan Perez (Conval Regional/Peterborough, N.H.).

Ithaca scored its final two runs of the game in the sixth, with junior Brian Grastorf (Niskayuna/Rexford) hitting a run-scoring single and scoring on a squeeze bunt from Armstrong.

Grastorf went 3-for-3 in the opening game, hitting a double and stealing a base. The Bombers hit six doubles in the game, with Perez hitting a pair of them.

Despite the pitching of Lynch, who struck out four and allowed just five hits in six innings, the Bombers saw their eight-game winning streak with the loss in the second game.

Junior Jon Krakower (The Berkshire School/Albany), replacing Samela as the leadoff hitter and centerfielder in the game, led off with a single. He came around to score an RBI base hit from sophomore Trevor Wolf (Lansing/Freeville).

Ithaca loaded the bases in the second inning, and would have baserunners in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but could not score again. Seven members of the Bomber' starting lineup had hits, including Wolf, who had two.

Baseball travels to Cortland Wednesday to take on the 15th-ranked Red Dragons.

G ame one box score

Game two box score