YAPHANK, N.Y. – The Ithaca baseball team has swept their doubleheader against the Old Westbury Panthers 10–1, 17–4. With the sweep, the Bombers are now 4-1 on the season, through two weeks of play.
ITHACA 10, SUNY OLD WESTBURY 1
Right out of the gate, the Bombers jumped out to a 1–0 lead at the top of the first after an RBI single from sophomore Louis Fabbo, which brought home junior Mike Nauta from second. The Bombers continued to light the top of the first on fire after junior Matt Fabian raked in a two-RBI single, which plated Buzz Shirley and Nicholas Cutaia, extending the Bombers' lead to 3–0.
The Panthers would get themselves on the board quickly in the bottom of the first with an RBI double from senior Drew Robertson to cut the Bombers' lead down 3–1. The Bombers increased their lead to 5–1 in the top of the second, with both Fabbo and Cutaia plating runs on RBI doubles.
During the top of the sixth, Fabbo doubled in a run for his third RBI of the ball game, increasing the Bombers' lead to five runs. The Bombers padded their lead to 10–1 at the top of the seventh with a grand slam from sophomore Colin Shashaty, that brought Fabian, Ethan Rothstein, and Gil Merod home.
The Panthers couldn't get anything going at the bottom of the seventh, leading to a Bombers' 10–1 victory at the top of the double-header.
Louis Fabbo had himself a day, going 3-5, hitting two doubles and raking in three RBIs, while Matt Fabian had a three-hit day with two RBIs. Colin Shashaty went 1-1 pinch-hitting, knocking in a grand slam for the Bombers.
Buzz Shirley picked up his first win of the season, pitching five innings, striking out eight and only allowing one run. Sophomore Nate Scott pitched two innings in relief.
ITHACA 17, SUNY OLD WESTBURY 4
The Bombers struck during the top of the first and second, with a sacrifice fly from Gil Merod that brought Colin Shashaty home, to go along with an RBI double from Shashaty. Louis Fabbo continued his day of production with an RBI single to give the Bombers a 3–0 lead.
Ithaca continued to build its lead in the third and fourth innings, scoring eight runs. Shirley and freshman Colin Feeny, both had RBI singles, to go along with RBI doubles from Merod and Fabbo. Merod then scored from a wild pitch, a Panther error allowed Fabian to score, followed by Connor Pederson stealing home, all extending the Bombers' lead to 11–0.
The Panthers were finally able to put a run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth with sophomore Jamie Barrios hitting an RBI single up the middle that plated junior Jacob Ford. Junior Jamal Ritter homered for the Panthers in the bottom of the fifth cutting the score down to 11–2.
Ithaca knocked in two more runs to extend their lead in the top of the seventh, but the Panthers would cut their deficit back down to nine with a two-run homer from Robertson. The Bombers added four more runs in the top of the ninth to extend their lead 17–4.
The Panthers would ultimately fail to put a string of runs together to cut their deficit, leading to a 17-4 win for IC.
Fabbo had a second three-hit game for the Bombers today, to go along with two RBIs and a double. Merod raked in three RBI, as well a sacrifice fly.
Senior Kyle Lambert got his first win of the season, pitching four innings and only allowing one run and four hits. Zane Grimes, Sean Kelly and Tyler Edelman pitched a combined four innings in relief, giving up three runs.
The Bombers will look to keep the wins coming as they head off to SUNY Cortland on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
