ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team split a Liberty League doubleheader at No. 22 Rochester on Sunday to come away with the series win to secure first place via tiebreaker. Ithaca dropped the opener, 7-3, but bounced back to with the night cap, 14-8. The Bombers are now 22-9 overall this season and 10-4 in Liberty League play, while Rochester is 25-7 and 12-2 in the league.

GAME ONE: Rochester 7, Ithaca 3

The Bombers led, 3-1, heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Yellowjackets scored six unanswered runs to pull off the win in the seven-inning opener.

UR took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, but IC jumped ahead, 2-1, in the top of the third as Riley Brawdy drove in Collin Feeney with a triple and then scored on a wild pitch. The Bombers added to their lead in the fourth as Matt Fabian doubled home Buzz Shirley.

The Yellowjackets regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth, 4-3, with three runs on one hit. UR led off with a walk and then loaded the bases with a base hit and another free pass with one out. After a pitching change from Nate Scott to Garrett Bell, Rochester tied the game on a walk and hit by pitch, which brought in two runs. A groundout in the next at bat put the Yellowjackets ahead for good.

UR added three more runs in the sixth with another bases loaded walk and a two-run single.

Scott took the loss in 4.1 innings pitched with four runs allowed (three earned) on four hits and four walks, with six strikeouts. Bell surrendered three runs on three walks and three hits.

Connor Pedersen picked up another multi-hit game, going 2-for-3.

GAME TWO: Ithaca 14, Rochester 8

The Bombers scored early and often in the nightcap to put Rochester away and salvage the split. IC plated three runs in the second inning and then scored seven more over the next three frames and then two runs each in the seventh and eighth innings to account for the 14-run onslaught.

In the second, Nicholas Cutaia led off with a solo home run and then Matt Fabian blasted a two-run shot after Pedersen doubled. Rochester would knot the game at 3-3 in the bottom half on a bases-clearing double.

The score would remain tied after three innings as IC and UR each scored twice, making it 5-5. Pederson brought home Louis Fabbo with a sacrifice fly in the third and then Gil Merod drove in Shirley with a single. UR answered with a two-run double.

From there, the Bombers pulled away and took a 6-5 lead in the fourth on an error and then plated four more in the fifth inning to build a 10-5 advantage. In the fifth, Brawdy started the rally with an RBI single, bringing in David Cifonelli. A few batters later, Shirley drove home two with a triple to right-center as Brawdy and Feeney scored, and then Shirley scored on a error.

Two more runs scored in the seventh on an error by UR and then the Bombers doubled up Rochester, 14-7, in the eighth as Fabbo drove in Feeney with a single and then Cutaia capped off the contest by bring home Fabbo on a base hit.

Matt Chase was the winning pitcher for IC as he tossed 3.2 innings of relief. Brett Budzak threw 1.2 scoreless innings, while Erislandy Rives struck out the side in an inning of work. Colin Leyner started for the Bombers and pitched 2.2 innings.

IC hosts No. 20 Oswego on Wednesday, April 27 at 4 p.m. and then plays Clarkson for a three-game series at Freeman Field over the weekend.