HOUGHTON, N.Y. — The Keuka College Baseball team split their Empire 8 Conference doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Houghton College.

Keuka College (11-13-1, 5-6-1 Empire 8) earned a hard-fought 5-4 victory in game one. The Green and Gold attempted a late rally, but could not overcome the Highlander lead, losing 4-2 in game two.

Keuka College 5 at Houghton College 4

The hosts took the lead in the third inning with a pair of runs, but that lead was short-lived as the Wolves responded in the top of the fourth. Ryan Seales (Saratoga Springs, N.Y. / Saratoga Springs) singled to lead off the inning and was bunted to second by Shane Daley (Elma, N.Y. / Iroquois). Seales scored on an RBI single by Aaron Simons (Rome, N.Y. / Rome Free Academy). Keuka would then load the bases with back-to-back walks and freshman Donald Nemeth (Guilderland, N.Y. / Guilderland) delivered a double to score two and give the Wolves the lead.

Houghton tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on a solo home run, but like earlier, the Wolves quickly answered. Jimmy Griffin (Syracuse, N.Y. / East Syracuse-Minoa) led off with a double. He then scored on a double by freshman Tyler Lewandowski (Milltown, N.J. / Spotswood) to give the lead back to Keuka. The next batter was Matt Vaccaro (Fayetteville, N.Y. / Fayetteville-Manlius) and he singled home Lewandowski for what would be a needed insurance run. The game would go to the bottom of the seventh with Keuka holding a 5-3 lead.

The Highlanders used a leadoff walk to start the inning and would score a run with one out. Attempting for the save, Spencer Brown (Feura Bush, N.Y. / Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk) got a strikeout, but a single and catcher's interference loaded the bases with two outs. During the next at bat, the ball got away from catcher RJ Murphy (Syracuse, N.Y. / West Genesee) and the runner broke for home. Murphy recovered and flipped the ball to the covering Brown to get the final out of the game on the tying run at home as Keuka took game one 5-4.

Lead Wolf: Jared Beckley (Windsor, N.Y. / Windsor) got the win on the mound for the Wolves, the fourth of the season. He went six innings and allowed six hits while striking out four. He moved into a tie for sixth on the single-season wins list at Keuka.

Houghton College 4 vs. Keuka College 2

The Wolves had a hit in each of the first four innings, but Houghton was able to work out of trouble, including turning a pair of double plays to keep the Wolves off the board. It would be the hosts who struck first in the fourth. They only had one hit but were aided by an error, wild pitch, and pair of walks to manufacture two runs and take the lead.

Houghton would double their lead in the fifth on the back of a two-run home run.

Keuka College got two runs back in the eighth. A walk and a hit batter put two runners on for the Wolves. Aaron Simons then delivered a two-out double to right to score both runners and make it a two-run game. Kole Schmerder (Vestal, N.Y. / Vestal) pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the frame to send the game to the ninth with Keuka trailing 4-2.

The Wolves attempted a two-out rally. Shane Daley singled to bring Matt Vaccaro up as the tying run. He singled as well to put runners on the corners with two outs. However, Houghton would get the final strikeout to defeat the Wolves 4-2.

Lead Wolf: Aaron Simons had a big game two for the Wolves. To go along with his two-run double, Simons had a pair of singles for his first career three-hit game.

KC Notes:

• The Wolves are now 4-8 all-time against Houghton College. Game one was Keuka's first-ever win at Houghton. The Wolves are now 1-5 on the road against the Highlanders
• Keuka had three doubles in game one and another in game two, giving them 53 on the year. It is the fifth-most by a team in program history
• Spencer Brown joined a list with two saves in a season, tying for fifth-most at Keuka. Brown also broke a tie and now stands alone in eighth for most strikeouts in a season
• Donald Nemeth had his personal best seven-game hitting streak snapped in game two
• Aaron Simons also ran his streak to seven, setting a new highwater mark

Up Next for Keuka College: The Wolves and Highlanders will conclude their season series on Saturday. Due to field conditions at Keuka College, the doubleheader will again be played on the turf at Houghton College. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.