ITHACA, N.Y. (May 2, 2015) – The Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team fell 3-0 to Ithaca College in game one, and lost a heartbreaker 7-6 in the game two on Saturday.
The Ducks are now 26-12 while the Bombers moved to 17-13.
Game 1: Ithaca 3, Stevens 0
Ithaca pushed across the first run of the afternoon on a sacrifice fly from Christian Brown in the bottom of the third. Stevens loaded the bases with no outs the following inning on singles from freshman Tommy Baronner, sophomore Zeph Walters and junior Jayson Yano, but were unable to capitalize and did not score.
Brown knocked in another run in the bottom of the fifth as his RBI hit scored Brennan McCormack who had led off the inning with a single. McCormack capped off the scoring in game one as his single up the middle plated Matt Connolly.
Baronner and Yano each had two hits, while freshman Alex Detweiler started and went five innings, allowing six hits and two earned runs.
McCormack went 3-for-3 with Brown going 1-for-2 with a double and a pair of RBIs.
Game 2: Ithaca 7, Stevens 6
Stevens scored the first run of the game nightcap in the top of the fourth, when Yano and junior Nick Sieber singled and doubled respectively. Senior Gregg Nickels lofted a fly ball to right to drive Yano home. The visitors threatened in the top of the fifth, when senior Marc Calleo and junior Jonathan Toro singled with no outs, but pitcher Zach Dickstein induced a pair of groundouts and caught Calleo trying to score on a wild pitch.
The Ducks added three runs in the top of sixth, as Yano led off with a walk that chased Dickstein from the game. A one-out single by Nickels put runners on first and second, and pinch hitter John Sideris delivered a single up the middle scoring Yano with Nickels coming home as the ball scooted past the centerfielder for an error. Sideris would score on a wild pitch to cap off the sixth inning scoring. Senior Ryan Mannello delivered a run in the top of the eighth, as his RBI single down the right field line knocked in Yano.
The Bombers got three runs in the bottom of the eighth off of three different Duck pitchers. Zach Pidgeon led off with a pinch hit single which was followed up with a double from Josh Savacool. Pidgeon scampered home on a wild pitch, but Robbins fanned Brown for the first out of the inning. Sophomore Bret Viola came in and allowed an RBI single to Trevor Thompson, but he came back to get a fly out to right field. Connolly came up and delivered another RBI single, but junior Danny McIntyre came in for Stevens and got a grounder to first base for the final out.
The Ducks manufactured a final run in the top of ninth. Calleo singled to lead off the inning, and advanced to third thanks to a pair of wild pitches. Baronner lifted a sac-fly to right to score Calleo for the 6-3 lead.
Things unraveled in the bottom of the ninth, as the Bombers struck for four runs on five hits. Trevor Thompson, Stephen Yanchus, and Zach Cole all delivered RBI singles, with Domenic Boresta delivering a walk-off single through the right side
Junior Robert Robbins was dominating on the hill for Stevens, not allowing a hit until the sixth inning. He tossed seven and a third innings, allowing two runs on three hits, striking out seven.
Dickstein started for the Bombers and went five innings allowing two runs on six hits and three walks. Savacool had three hits including a double while Connolly went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Thompson, Cole, and Boresta all had two hits in game two.
The teams will meet in the finale of three game set tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
Facebook: "Like" Stevens Athletics
Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks