ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team dropped a non-conference matchup to Alfred State, 11-7, on Tuesday afternoon at Freeman Field. Ithaca will now look to the Liberty League Crossover Series this weekend as the Bombers host Union on May 7-8.
Alfred State took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning as the Pioneers led off with back-to-back home runs to left field and then plated the third run on a single through the right side of the infield with runners on the corners.
IC threatened in the bottom of the second as
Connor Pedersen,
Nicholas Cutaia and
Colin Shashaty all reached on singles, but the inning came to a halt as the Bombers were doubled up at second on a line drive and then a strikeout ended the at bat.
The Pioneers increased their lead to 7-0 in the top of the third with a lead off homer to dead centerfield followed shortly by a two-run triple to right-center. The final run scored on a high chopper to third base.
IC got on the board in the bottom of the third as a walk and two hit by pitches loaded the bases and
Matt Fabian brought home two runs with a base hit up the middle to make the score 7-2.
In the bottom of the fourth, IC loaded the bases once again and a failed pick off attempt to second base sailed into center and
Ben Landis scored from third. Unfortunately, the Bombers left the bases loaded and Alfred State took a 7-3 lead into the fifth.
Alfred State extended its lead to 11-3 after the fifth as a bases-clearing triple highlighted the four-run inning.
The Bombers answered with three runs on two hits in the bottom of the fifth and utilized a pair of Alfred State errors in the inning.
Nicholas Cutaia led off with a three-base error and later scored on a groundball by Landis and then
Riley Brawdy drove in Shashaty with a single up the middle.
Buzz Shirley brought IC to within 11-6 with an RBI double to left-center, which brought in Landis.
IC scratched another run across in the bottom of the sixth on an infield single by Landis that plated Cutaia from third to pull the Bombers to within an 11-7 score.
In the seventh, the Bombers had another chance to score on a fly ball to center with runners on second and third, but on the tag up,
Collin Feeney was thrown out at third before the run could score to end the inning. It was a similar outcome in the eighth as Landis ripped a single to center but the Bombers were thrown out at third for the final out.
Brett Budzak took the loss in 2.0 innings pitched with five earned runs on six hits allowed.
Game One of the series against Union begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
