POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – It took nearly the entire first game of a doubleheader at Vassar College for Ithaca College baseball team's offense to wake up, but when it did, the Bombers erupted for 28 runs over the next eight innings to propel IC to an 11-9 win in the opener and 17-1 victory in Game Two. Ithaca is now 7-5 overall and 2-0 in the Liberty League, the first two LL victories as part of the conference.

IC and Vassar were scheduled to play a doubleheader in Ithaca tomorrow, but those games have been pushed back to Wednesday, April 14 at 1 p.m. at Freeman Field.

GAME ONE: Ithaca 11, Vassar 9

IC defeated Vassar College in the first game of a doubleheader behind an 11-run seventh inning for the comeback win on Saturday afternoon.
 
It was Vassar who took control of the game from the beginning, scoring at least one run in each of the first five innings of the game. Sophomore Garrett Bell got the start for the Bombers and was unable to slow the Vassar offense down, allowing six runs (five earned) in 4.1 innings pitched. First-year Matteo Ragusa replaced Bell on the mound and was able to limit the damage over the next two innings, allowing three runs (two earned). Ragusa would go on to earn his first collegiate victory with five strikeouts.
 
The Bombers struggled to hit for the majority of the game, recording just three hits in the first six innings of the game. The bats came to life in the top of the seventh, though, while trailing 6-0 at the start of the inning. The rally started when sophomore Gil Merod brought in graduate student Buzz Shirley on an error. Sophomore Matt Fabian followed by knocking Merod in on a triple. A couple of at bats later, first-year Ethan McDonough singled in Fabian and first-year Alex Barker-Hook who had reached on a walk. Later in the inning, McDonough came in to score on a passed ball before senior Jack Lynch tied up the game 6-6 on a double that scored sophomore Mike Nauta.
 
The inning continued for the Bombers as Shirley gave them the lead on a single which scored Lynch. On his second at-bat of the inning, Fabian struck out, but senior Garrett Callaghan scored on the passed ball. First-year Colin Shashaty then stepped in as the pinch hitter and singled in Shirley to make it a 9-6 game. Both Merod, who had walked earlier in the inning, and Shashaty were able to score on separate passed balls later in the inning to make it an 11-6 game in the middle of the seventh inning.
 
Graduate student Charlie Hammel came in to attempt to secure the win acquiring the bases loaded and just one out. He was unable to stop Vassar from scoring, allowing the Brewers to score three runs in the bottom of the inning before recording the save and an 11-9 victory for Ithaca.

GAME TWO: Ithaca 17, Vassar 1

It was all Bombers in Game Two. IC plated two runs in the top of the first and then went up by six with four runs in the fourth. That momentum carried over to the fifth inning, as the Bombers hung eight runs on the Brewers to extend their lead to 14-0. Two more runs in the sixth and another in the seventh capped off IC's 17-run outburst.

The Bombers notched 17 hits in the nightcap, including six extra base hits.

Lynch, Fabian and Nauta each recorded three hits in Game Two. Lynch was 3-for-6 with four RBI, three runs scored, a homerun and triple. Fabian scored three time with one RBI, while Nauta scored a run and drove in another.

Barker-Hook and first-year Louis Fabbo also collected multi-hit games, each going 2-for-5.

Shirley picked up the win in 5.0 innings pitched with nine strikeouts and three hits allowed. Senior Brett Budzak and first-years Nate Scott and Dom Trippi, and sophomore Tyler Edelman combined to throw the final four innings.