VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Ithaca College baseball team played to a pair of 13-8 results on Saturday, as the Bombers topped New Paltz in a morning contest but feel to host Virginia Wesleyan in the afternoon at TowneBank Park. With the split, Ithaca is now 2-1 on the season.

ITHACA 13, NEW PALTZ 8

In the opener, IC jumped out to 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a two-run single by Connor Pedersen, which brought home Nicholas Cutaia and Buzz Shirley.

After New Paltz plated one in the bottom of the first, Ithaca answered with two runs in the top of the second on a two-run single by Cutaia and two more in the third on a squeeze by Riley Brawdy and groundout from Mike Nauta.

The Hawks would respond with two more in the bottom half of the third, but the Bombers plated another run in the fourth and three in the fifth to build a 10-3 lead. Pedersen once again drove home a run in the fourth with a base hit up the middle to bring in Shirley and then an RBI double from Louis Fabbo, followed by a two-run home run from Shirley staked IC to its seven-run lead.

New Paltz made things interesting by scoring five runs on the next two innings to pull to within a 10-8 score heading to the seventh, but Ithaca put the game away with three runs in the top half of the eighth. A Colin Shashaty RBI double brought in the first run and then Shirley drove in two more with a single to right.

Shirley finished the game 3-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored, while Pedersen and Gil Merod also recorded three hits each.

Zane Grimes picked up his first collegiate win at IC in a five-inning outing. Grimes fanned six batters and allowed five runs on nine hits. Colin Leyner fired an inning in relief and the Ethan Buckley finished off the game with 3.0 innings pitched to pick up the save.

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN 13, ITHACA 8

The Marlins struck first with a run in the bottom of the first inning, but Ithaca took the lead, 2-1, in the top of the fourth on an RBI double from Cutaia and an infield error.

VWU then plated 12 runs over the next three innings to blow the game open. The Marlins scored three in the fourth, four in the fifth and five in the sixth.

The Bombers attempted a comeback by scratching out four runs in the seventh, followed by one in the eighth and ninth innings, but it was too much to overcome.

In the four-run seventh, Shirley and Merod each collected two-run base hits – a double from Shirley and single by Merod.

Shirley posted another three-hit game in four at bats, while David Cifonelli went 2-for-4.

Nate Scott took the loss in 5.0 innings of work as he allowed eight runs (five earned) on eight hits.

The Bombers head to Old Westbury next weekend for a doubleheader on March 5.