ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team put up 18 runs in each game of a Liberty League-opening doubleheader at Freeman Field against St. Lawrence University as the Bombers won both games, 18-8 and 18-9. IC is now 8-7 on the season and 2-0 in the Liberty League.
GAME ONE: Ithaca 18, St. Lawrence 8 (7 innings)
St. Lawrence produced the first scoring chance of the contest as the Saints put two runners in scoring position on a pair of base hits and a sacrifice bunt. A groundout retired the second out, but a hit by pitch followed to load the bases.
Colin Leyner got out of the jam with a fly out to center to keep the game scoreless.
The Bombers responded by loading the bases in the bottom of the second on a walk and back-to-back hit by pitches with no one out. A run crossed on the next plate appearance as
Ryan Laubscher was hit by a pitch and
Matt Curtis scored to make to 1-0. After an out was recorded,
Andrew McDermott cleared the bases with a no-doubt grand slam to extend the lead to 5-0. Two pitches later,
Ethan McDonough sent a shot over the left field fence for a 6-0 lead.
The Saints got a run back in the fourth on a sac fly to center as a lead-off double moved up a base on an infield single, but the inning came an end on a double play.
IC went back up by six runs at 7-1 in the bottom of the fourth as
Camden Laney blooped in a single to right-center and McDonough scored from second. The lead grew to an 8-1 as an infield error allowed Laney to cross the plate from second base and St. Lawrence went to the bullpen. A full count to
Logan Scully allowed the runners to move with two outs and he sent a double down the left field line to plate Curtis and
Collin Feeney for a 10-1 difference. Laubscher continued the inning with a base hit to right and Scully came home for an 11-1 score.
The Saints pulled back to within seven runs at 11-4 in the fifth as two IC errors led to the three-run inning. A passed ball brought in the first run and then a double plated two more.
In the bottom of the fifth, Ithaca plated six more runs to build a 17-4 lead. Three runs scored on wild pitches and the other three came home on a bases-clearing double by McDermott, which was the only hit of the inning.
The Saints plated four more runs in the sixth, but IC ended the game by scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh.
Leyner picked up the win in 5.0 innings of work, while
Ethan Fantel and
Cooper Albert appeared in relief.
GAME TWO: Ithaca 18, St. Lawrence 9
IC jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Laney drove in McDermott for the first run of the game and then Feeney brought in Laney with a bunt base hit. A single from Scully made it 3-0 as Laubscher scored from third and Curtis drove home two runs on a triple to right.
Sheldon Jay Walker III followed with a base hit to left to plate Curtis.
St. Lawrence put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the second inning to get on the board as a single up the middle made it 6-1, but a strikeout with runners on the corners any further damage. Four more runs scored for the Saints in the third to pull SLU to within a run at 6-5.
The Bombers got a run back in to bottom of the third, 7-5, by stringing three straight singles together from
Riley Brawdy, McDermott and McDonough. IC then extended its lead back out to five runs at 10-5 in the bottom of the fourth as Brawdy ripped a two-run triple to right-center and McDermott followed with an RBI bunt single. After that, Laney drove a double to left-center to bring in McDermott and McDonough for a seven-run edge at 12-5.
In the top of the fifth, St. Lawrence crossed three more runs to make it 12-8 heading to the bottom half. A sac fly from the Bombers in the bottom of the fifth gave IC a 13-8 advantage, but the Saints drew a bases loaded walk in the sixth for a 13-9 contest. The Bombers extended the lead back out to five, 14-9, in the sixth on a wild pitch as Laubscher scored.
The Bombers nearly ended the game in the bottom of the eighth by scoring four runs, highlighted by a bases-clearing tripe off the bat of Brawdy. IC took an 18-9 lead to the ninth.
The series will conclude tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.
