HOBOKEN, N.J. (May 3, 2016) – Senior Nick Sieber hit an infield chopper in the bottom of the 12th inning to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team to a 3-2 upset win over No. 12/22 Keystone College Tuesday.
The Ducks moved to 25-13 while Keystone fell to 27-9.
Stevens struck for the first run in their first at bat. Senior Jayson Yano led off the first with a walk, and moved to third on a pair of groundouts. Junior Zeph Walters delivered a run-scoring single to right center to score Yano. Senior Robert Robbins started and ran into trouble in the second, but retired the side after walking the first two hitters.
Robbins would walk Julian Lanfranco in the fifth, and stole second and third. After a wild pitch, Lanfranco would scoot home to even the game. With two on and two out, senior Danny McIntyre was brought in and promptly struck out Brandon Eady to end the inning.
Junior Harrison Kaye walked with one down in the fifth, and moved to second a wild pitch. Classmate Garrett Wells knocked him with a single to put Stevens back up 2-1. Yano entered in relief in the sixth, and hit a string of bad luck in the eighth.
Randy Torres hit a one-out double to center, and Eady smoked a ball up the middle that freshman Carlos Leon made a diving catch on. But Leon was unable to fully hold onto the ball after hitting the ground, putting runners on the corners. Chris Triano then hit a slow chopper to Leon and slid head-first into first to score the tying run.
The Ducks staged a two-out rally in the home eighth. Walters was hit with a pitch, and Sieber singled him to second. Junior Michael Mule' singled to left, but a strong Triano throw nabbed Walters at the plate. Stevens loaded the bases in the ninth with one out, but unable to capitalize.
The hosts finally broke through in the 12th starting with senior Jonathan Toro getting hit with a pitch. Toro would swipe second, and Walters moved him to third with a single to right. Sieber would hit a high chopper to the first basemen, and Toro was able to slide around the tag to send the Ducks home in a celebration.
Mule' had three hits, while Sieber and Walters each collected two hits and an RBI each. Yano was excellent out of the bullpen in earning the win, going seven innings striking out seven. He allowed just one run on four hits.
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