ITHACA, N.Y. - The Ithaca College baseball team was tasked with a back-and-forth contest against Hamilton College on Tuesday at Freeman Field as the Bombers pulled out a 12-11 victory. IC is now 17-5 on the season.
The Ithaca defense struggled early with an error, followed by an RBI single, gave the Continentals the lead before an out was recorded. A sacrifice fly later in the inning pushed the lead to 2-0 for Hamilton. The Bombers bats responded an RBI single from Camden Laney to bring them within one run in the bottom of the first.
Collin Feeney showed off his speed in the second inning with an infield hit, stolen base and a run scored on a wild pitch. Tyler Pugliese scored on another wild pitch, followed by a two-run single from Ryan Laubscher, opening the lead for IC, 5-2.
Pugliese smacked a double into the gap and was then driven in on an RBI single from Colin Shashaty in the third inning. Louis Fabbo kept the rally going with a towering two-run home run to left field to put the Bombers up, 8-2.
The defensive woes continued for IC in the sixth inning, as two errors led to the Continentals getting three runs across the board. The IC offense was able to further extend its lead in the bottom half of the inning with a Matt Curtis double drove in two runs. The rally continued with Feeney driving in Curtis with a double down the right field line and Fabbo picked up another RBI on a single to place the Bombers up, 12-5.
The Continentals offense got hot in the eighth inning as they were able to capitalize on a bases loaded nobody out situation by scoring six runs on three hits. The late game comeback put Hamilton within one run of IC heading into the ninth inning.
Hamilton's offense remained steady in the ninth inning as two reversed calls resulted in a bases loaded nobody out situation.
Conor Burns was up for the task on the mound as he surrendered no runs and struck out one to close out the game for his fourth save of the season.
In addition to Burns, the Bombers used a full staff of pitchers as
Sean Kelly,
Dan Kellachan,
Bo Nicholson,
Keaton Blackwood,
Cooper Albert and
Sean Minnick all saw action on the mound.
Ithaca's next contest will be a Saturday doubleheader against Vassar with first pitch scheduled for 12pm.
