CANTON, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team improved to 24-11 on the season with an 11-10 non-conference victory at St. Lawrence University on Wednesday afternoon. St. Lawrence falls to 10-19 overall with the setback.
In what seems to be shaping up as a pitchers' duel through five innings, as Ithaca held a 3-0 lead, turned into an offensive showcase over the final four innings of the game.
St. Lawrence tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth and then Ithaca answered with three more in the seventh. In the eight, the Bombers pushed two more runs across to extend their lead to 8-3, but the Saints came back with three in the bottom half. Ithaca added three runs in the ninth, only to watch St. Lawrence score four times and placed the tying run on base, but a strikeout ended the game.
Ithaca got off to a 2-0 start in the top of the first on a two-run home run from senior
Trevor Thompson after fellow senior
Josh Savacool led off the game with a hit by pitch.
Sophomore
Matt Carey staked the Bombers to a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning with a lead-off solo homer, and they would hold onto the advantage until St. Lawrence stroked a two-run double in the sixth and followed that up with an RBI groundout to tie the game.
A passed ball in the seventh put Ithaca back on top as sophomore
Andrew Bailey scampered home. After a walk and balk moved two runners up, a wild pitch brought home Carey, and then another passed ball allowed senior
Ryan Dougherty to score to give Ithaca a 6-3 lead.
In the top of the eighth, Thompson led off with a triple and senior
Ryan Henchey followed up with a single down the leftfield line to put Ithaca up, 7-3, but was thrown out trying to move up to second. After an error and back-to-back wild pitches allowed Bailey to move all the way to third, another passed ball gave Ithaca its eighth run of the game.
The Saints fought back to an 8-6 difference with three straight hits, a groundout and fielder's choice.
Henchey brought in two more runs in the ninth with a double that plated Thompson and junior
Domenic Boresta, and then Carey drove in Henchey with a base hit to cap off Ithaca's 11-run afternoon.
St. Lawrence would not go down with a fight; however, as the Saints pushed four runs across in their final at bat. A double and single started things off and then a fielder's choice brought in the first run. A two-run homer ensued to make the score 11-9 and another single brought in another run. With the tying run on first base and two outs, senior
Logan Barer ended the game with a strikeout looking.
Thompson went 2-for-4 with three runs scored, two walks and two RBI, while Henchey was 3-for-6. Carey also collected three hits in five at bats, while sophomore
John Peterson was 2-for-6. Savacool walked three times and was hit by a pitch in two official at bats.
Junior
Robby Buffis started on the mound for Ithaca and struck out three batters in three innings pitched. Freshman
Matt Eiel entered in relief and allowed three runs over 2.1 innings of work and then classmate
Tom Cosentino tossed the next three innings to pick up the win.
Cosentino allowed six runs on seven hits and Barer picked up the save in the final 2/3 of an inning.
The Bombers are back home tomorrow for another non-conference game against Wells College at 4 p.m.
