HOUGHTON, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team got back in the win column on Thursday night against Houghton College as the Bombers came away with a 9-1 Empire 8 Conference victory at the Kerr-Pegula Sports Complex. With the win, Ithaca is now 20-7 overall and 13-2 in the Empire 8, while Houghton drops to 10-15 and 5-6.
The Bombers quickly build a lead over Houghton as senior Garrett Snyder scored on a wild pitch in the top of the first inning. Snyder reached base on a lead-off error and then found his way to third on a double by sophomore Garrett Callaghan. After the run-scoring wild pitch, senior Adam Gallagher drove in Callaghan with a base hit to make the score 2-0 before an out was recorded.
IC's lead grew to 3-0 in the first as senior Cam Fuoti lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, which allowed Gallagher to come home.
Ithaca added another run in the top of the second inning as Snyder brought home junior Andrew Wollner with a base hit to increase the difference to 4-0.
In the top of the fifth inning, Fuoti drove in Callaghan with another sac fly for the fifth run of the contest for the Bombers. Callaghan legged out an infield single to lead off the inning and moved over to third on a single from junior Buzz Shirley.
Houghton got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut Ithaca's lead to 6-1 on an RBI single after a two-out double moved over to third on a wild pitch.
The Bomber lead ballooned to 8-1 in the top of the seventh inning as senior Matt Carey crushed a two-run home run with Shirley on base. Shirley found his way on with a hit by pitch and then stole second.
Ithaca tacked on its final run of the contest in the eighth inning as Shirley brought in Callaghan with an RBI double.
Callaghan went 4-for-5 in the game with three doubles, three runs scored and one RBI, while Shirley was a perfect 4-for-4 at the dish. Carey, junior Marco Fontana and sophomore Jack Lynch also had multi-hit games with two hits each.
Graduate student Tyler Hill improved to 6-0 on the season in eight innings of work with five strikeouts and one earned run. Hill allowed five hits and a walk before being replace by junior Charlie Hammel, who struck out two batters in the ninth.
Ithaca will return to action on Saturday for a doubleheader at Houghton. One victory for the Bombers in the twin bill will clinch the Empire 8 regular season title for IC and home field advantage for the first time in the Empire 8 Tournament in May.