All season long, Justin Beach, The College at Brockport's head baseball coach, has stressed the importance of delivering clutch two-out hits, especially with runners in scoring position.
Facing Vassar College Thursday morning, the Golden Eagles followed their coach's advice, and delivered in a big way.
Brockport scored seven times during the third inning to rally from a 3-2 deficit and emerge with a 14-8 win over Vassar during the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational at Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale, Fla.
Sophomore Stephen Boronczyk (Syracuse, NY/Corcoran), senior Mike Goldstein (Slingerlands, NY/Guilderland) and senior Tom McCormick (Utica, NY/Utica Notre Dame) each drove in two runs during the inning.
Brockport's batters exploded for the most runs in a single frame since an eight-run outburst during an eventual 20-9 romp over Hamilton College on April 13, 2010.
The win caps Brockport's (10-3) Spring Training trip with an 8-2 record. The Golden Eagles' only two losses in Florida came to Keystone (PA) College, which was ranked No. 23 in the country at the time, and the second game of a double-header with Spalding (KY) University on Wednesday.
Against Vassar (4-1), Brockport fell behind 3-0 as the Brewers scored three times in the first inning off of Golden Eagles' junior starter Mark Ciccotti (Breesport, NY/Horseheads).
The Golden Eagles wasted little time in rallying, scoring twice in the bottom of the first. Senior Max Keado (Troy, NY/Troy) hit a leadoff single and senior Max Zimmerman (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville North) walked to put runners on first and second. Senior Zach Prentice (Auburn, NY/Auburn) doubled down the left-field line to score Keado and Zimmerman and pull Brockport within 3-2.
The score remained that way until Brockport's big third inning, which started with a ground out and a strikeout before the fireworks.
Zimmerman and Prentice each hit singles into the outfield, and junior Corey Booth (Middletown, NY/Minisink Valley) followed with a bunt single to load the bases for Boronczyk, who singled to drive in Prentice and Zimmerman and put Brockport up 4-3.
Goldstein added a two-run single to right-center field that scored Boronczyk and Booth, and following a single from Jake Coleman (Hilton, NY/Hilton), McCormick laced a two-run single to left field that plated Goldstein and Coleman for an 8-3 lead. With the bases loaded, Zimmerman drew a walk to score McCormick with Brockport's seventh run of the inning.
Vassar got one run back in the top of the fourth to trail 9-4, but Brockport made it 10-4 on Zimmerman's RBI triple to right-center field in the bottom of the fifth.
The Brewers closed to 10-6 with a pair of seventh-inning runs, but Brockport pushed across a run in the seventh and three more in the eighth to close out Vassar.
Keado finished 3 for 5 while sophomore Mike Weakley (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool), Zimmerman, Prentice, Boronczyk and Coleman each had two hits for the Green and Gold, which had 17 hits against Vassar. Prentice upped his RBI total to a team-leading 15 in just 11 games.
Ciccotti (2-0) battled through some rough innings and earned the win, allowing six runs on 11 hits with five strikeouts over seven innings. Vassar left 13 batters on base to snap its four-game win streak.
Joe Castilla had a two-run triple and Parker Werline added a two-run single for Vassar.