BENNINGTON, Vt. – A six-run bottom of the seventh allowed the Southern Vermont College baseball team to take the lead over Skidmore College Tuesday afternoon, and the hosting Mountaineers were then able to close it out and finish off a 16-12 non-conference win at Bill Epstein Field.
Scoring was abundant from the start with SC holding a 6-5 edge after the fourth. Both teams notched five runs in the fifth before the Mountaineers went ahead in the seventh. The Thoroughbreds notched one run in the ninth on a solo homer, but that would be it as SVC finished off its first-ever win over Skidmore in 13 all-time meetings.
Southern Vermont (8-17) has a few days off before its next game—that being a 1 p.m. New England Collegiate Conference single contest on Friday against Newbury College at the New England Baseball Complex.
SVC senior shortstop John Arancio (Oradell, N.J.) went 4-5 with a grand slam, five runs batted in, and three runs scored. Sophomore first baseman Jordan Banks (Bristol, Conn.) and freshman second baseman Will Iannacone (Winchendon, Mass.) both had two hits and a pair of RBIs for the hosts.
The Mountaineers used four arms on the hill throughout the afternoon with junior righty Joe Braim (Saratoga, N.Y.) being the third to take the ball; he struck out a pair in his 2.2 innings of relief while keeping Skidmore scoreless and finishing the top of the seventh to collect the win (3-2). Sophomore right-hander Rees LeSoine (Florence, Mont.) entered in the top of the eighth with the bases loaded—working out of it and then wrapping up the game in the ninth for his third save in five days.
Arancio started his solid day with an RBI double to right-center gap for SVC to take the edge in the home half of the first. A two-run homer in the third helped Skidmore go on top 4-2, but the Mountaineers would regain the lead in the third after Banks started the frame's scoring with an RBI single through the left side.
Another two-run blast from the visitors in the fourth put the Thoroughbreds back in front, and a five-run top of the fifth gave their cushion some padding. Southern Vermont responded right away, however, with five of its own in the ensuing box. Banks raked another RBI single in the frame before freshman catcher Jay Marcello (Fairfield, Conn.) tagged a three-run double to center to help make it an 11-10 ballgame.
Braim gave up a lead-off single to the first batter he faced during the sixth, but he would then retire the next six Thoroughbreds who entered the box for the one-run game to go to the bottom of the seventh. Southern Vermont then rallied for six runs—all of them crossing the dish with two outs. The last four came around when Arancio launched his second grand slam in 15-days' time the opposite way; those runs would end up being the game winners.
Skidmore threatened to cut into the deficit in the eighth when the visitors loaded the pond with two down. LeSoine came in from the pen, however, and induced the inning-ending grounder to short for SVC to get back in the dugout. The Thoroughbreds got on the board once more with a one-run shot in the ninth, but it wouldn't be enough as Southern Vermont closed its second-straight victory.
– #LetsGoSVC –