ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team let the bats fly on Friday afternoon in a Liberty League doubleheader at RIT as the Bombers took down the Tigers, 16-10 and 12-4, at Tiger Stadium to earn two crucial divisional wins. With the victories, Ithaca is now 19-7 overall and 7-3 in Liberty League play.
GAME ONE: Ithaca 16, RIT 10
Louis Fabbo was the story of the opener as he went 5-for-5 with seven RBI and four runs scored. Fabbo belted two home runs, including a grand slam in the six-run second inning, and notched a pair of doubles.
IC racked up 17 hits in the victory and led by 12 runs heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. Fabbo drilled his second homer of the day in the top of the ninth to account for the 16-10 final.
Connor Pedersen collected four hits in six at bats with three runs scored and two RBI, while Nicholas Cutatia,
Matt Fabian and
Riley Brawdy each had two hits in the win.
Cutaia smacked a two-run homer in the second inning, while Fabian doubled in a pair of runs in the fourth.
IC scored a run in the top of the first on a ground out by Pedersen, which brought in Fabbo, but RIT scored twice in the bottom of the first inning.
The Bombers regained the lead in the second with six runs and then scored eight runs over the next five frames to blow the game open before the Tigers mounted a late comeback with six runs in the eighth inning.
Nate Scott picked up the win in 5.0 innings as he struck out three and allowed three runs on seven hits.
Ethan Buckley,
Ethan Rothstein and
Brett Budzak all saw action in relief.
GAME TWO: Ithaca 12, RIT 4
RIT once again scored twice in the first inning, but the Bombers answered with nine runs in the bottom of the second to break the game open early.
In that nine-run frame which brought 14 batters to the plate,
Joe Guidi drove in three runs with a single to left-center in his first at bat and drove in another with a base hit to center. Pedersen brought two in with a single to right-center, while
Gil Merod drove in a pair with a base hit to left.
Ethan McDonough got in on the action with an RBI single to right and
Mike Nauta sent an RBI base hit through the left side.
The 9-2 lead stood for IC until the fourth inning as RIT plated two more runs, but the Bombers put the contest away with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Cutaia brought Pedersen in with a base hit to right and then Fabian blasted a two-run homer to left.
Pedersen once again notched four hits – his third straight contest – as he was perfect in the night cap with two runs and two RBI. Merod, McDonough and Guidi each collected two hits in Game Two.
Colin Leyner went the distance as he fanned six over 7.0 innings and allowed three earned runs on five hits.
IC and RIT will wrap up the weekend series tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Rochester.
