HOUGHTON, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team secured home field for the upcoming Empire 8 Conference Tournament with a doubleheader sweep of Houghton College on Saturday at Kerr-Pegula Field with scores of 4-3 and 16-5. The Bombers are now 22-7 overall and 15-2 in the Empire 8 and are set to host the Empire 8 Tournament for the first time in program history on May 10-12. Houghton drops to 10-17 on the year and 5-8 in the conference.

GAME ONE: Ithaca 4, Houghton 3

The story of the opener was once again the superb pitching of senior Jake Binder, who carried a perfect game into the sixth inning. After a one-out walk ended the perfect game bid, Houghton notched a single to break up the no-hitter, and the Highlanders would go on to tie the game at 1-1 on an RBI single.

Ithaca took the lead earlier in the contest with a third inning RBI groundout by senior Sam Little to bring home fellow senior Webb Little.

The Bombers then increased their lead to 4-1 in the seventh as senior Adam Gallagher drove in two runs on a single to right field to plate W. Little and sophomore Garrett Callaghan, and then S. Little doubled in Gallagher.

Houghton mounted a late comeback effort with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but was unable to send the game to extra innings. In the seventh, Houghton led off with a double, which later scored on another two-base hit. A stolen base moved the runner up to third and then scored on a single for the final run of the game.

Binder tossed a complete game for his fifth win of the year as he struck out four batters and allowed five hits.

S. Little and Callaghan each notched multi-hit games in the opener. S. Little drove in two runs, as did Gallagher.

GAME TWO: Ithaca 16, Houghton 5

Ithaca wasted no time in putting the nightcap out of reach, as the Bombers erupted for 10 runs over the opening two innings.

In the first, the Bombers plated five runs on three hits thanks to a bases-clearing triple by senior Matt Carey, which brought in S. Little, Fuoti and junior Buzz Shirley. Prior to that, Fuoti drove home W. Little with a double and then Carey scored on an error off the bat of sophomore Jack Lynch.

IC tacked on five more runs in the second inning to increase the lead to 10-0. W. Little led off with a home run to right field and then Fuoti notched a sacrifice fly to bring home Gallagher. After a pair of hit by pitches, junior Andrew Wollner plated S. Little with a base hit through the left side to make the score 9-0. A few batters later, junior Marco Fontana drew a bases loaded walk to end the five-run outburst.

Houghton would answer in the bottom of the second inning with three runs, but Ithaca responded with three more in the fourth. Senior Andrew Bailey drove in the first run with a sac fly and then junior Brendan Ryan cranked a two-run home run in the next at bat.

IC's lead grew to 15-3 in the sixth on an RBI double by senior Jackson Smith, followed by an error to bring in Bailey.

The Highlanders would score two more runs in the seventh, but IC had the final say with a bases loaded walk to junior Chris Dietz in the eighth to plate sophomore Matt Wimmer.

Ithaca recorded 15 hits in the nightcap, including seven extra base hits. W. Little, Ryan, Fuoti, Smith and Wollner all had two hits in Game Two.

Junior Tom Cosentino improved to 4-1 overall in six innings of work. Cosentino fanned a career-best nine batters and allowed four runs on 11 hits.

Junior Trevor Rumsey, senior Christian LaLomia and sophomore Bill Willett combined to throw the final three innings of relief.

Ithaca travels to Oswego on April 23 and Cortland on the 24th for its next two contests. The Bombers will then head to Susquehanna for a doubleheader on the 27th and return home for a twin bill against Alfred State on the 28th for Senior Day.