ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team split a home Empire 8 Conference doubleheader with Houghton College on Monday afternoon at Freeman Field. Ithaca dropped the opener, 3-2, but rebounded in the night cap with a 9-7 victory. The Bombers are now 17-13 overall this season and 10-7 in the Empire 8.

GAME ONE: Houghton 3, Ithaca 2

Houghton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the opener with a two-out double to right field in the top of the third inning.

The Bombers tied the contest up at 1-1 in the bottom of the third as sophomore Chris Dietz drove in junior Cam Fuoti with a double the right-center. Fuoti led off the inning with a single and stole second to move into scoring position.

In the top of the fourth, Houghton led off with a double and walk to immediate put two runners on. The night batter singled to right field, but junior Garrett Snyder came up firing and threw the Highlanders' lead runner out at the plate to preserve the tie.

After a strikeout, Houghton loaded the bases with a walk, but senior Tyler Hill buckled down and got out of the jam with a lineout to junior Sam Little in centerfield.

The Highlanders would regain the lead in the fifth on an infield single to make the score 2-1. A lead-off single came around to score after a sacrifice bunt and passed ball moved the runner to third base.

Ithaca tied things up once again at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI groundout to short by junior Andrew Bailey to push in junior Webb Little from third, who led off with a triple to left field.

Houghton went back on top in the seventh, 3-2, as a lead-off double eventually scored on a sac fly to right field. After the double, a passed ball moved the runner up 90 feet before the sac fly.

Junior Matt Eiel took the loss in two innings of relief. Eiel gave up one hit and one run (unearned).

Senior Tyler Hill started the game for IC and tossed five innings in a no decision. Hill allowed five hits and struck out seven batters in the outing.

GAME TWO: Ithaca 9, Houghton 7

Ithaca capitalized on three Houghton errors in the bottom of the first inning and scored three runs off those miscues. Senior Domenic Boresta led off the inning with a double to deep right-center and then scored on a throwing error to third base.

Bailey then reached on an error and scored from third on a throwing error down to second during a stolen base by S. Little, who singled on a chopper over first base.

S. Little moved up to third on the play and then scored on a sac fly to right by junior Adam Gallagher to cap off the inning.

Houghton got a run back in the top of the second on a sac fly after loading the bases on a single and a pair of walks.

The Bombers got that run back in the bottom of the second as Fuoti led off with a solo home run to left. Freshman Jack Lynch followed with a hustle double and scored on a sac bunt and throwing error off the bat of Dietz to make the score 5-1.

In the next at bat, Boresta beat out a bunt single and Dietz came around to score from second base to increase the Ithaca lead to 6-1, and then S. Little capped off the four-run inning with a sac fly to center, which brought in Boresta.

Two more runs would score in the third to push the Bombers lead to 9-1. Lynch drove in the first run on a sac fly to bring in Snyder, who led off with a single and advanced to third on a double by Fuoti. Boresta then plated Fuoti on a double to right-center for the ninth run of the game.

Houghton trimmed two runs off its deficit in the top of the fifth on a two-run home run to right field. The Highlanders then loaded the bases but stranded all three runners to keep the score at 9-3.

Sophomore Trevor Rumsey was relieved in the fifth inning after 4.2 innings pitched. Rumsey allowed three runs on five hits and struck out two before exiting the game for junior Christian LaLomia.

In the top of the sixth, Houghton scored four more runs on five hits to pull to within a 9-7 difference. All four runs scored with two outs in the inning.

Houghton threatened once again in the top of the seventh by placing two runners on with back-to-back singles. With one out in the frame, Boresta made a diving catch in the left-center gap for the second out of the seventh, which would have cleared the bases and tied the game up. The Bombers got out of the jam and maintained their 9-7 lead on a strikeout by senior Chris Marinaccio.

Marinaccio earned the win in 3.1 innings of relief for his first victory of the season. He struck out four batters and allowed two hits in the outing.

Boresta was 3-for-5 in the game with two runs scored, two RBI and a pair of doubles. Fuoti went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

Ithaca travels No. 24 Oswego tomorrow for a 4 p.m. non-conference game.