ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team erupted for 12 runs in an Empire 8 Conference matchup with Houghton College on Wednesday afternoon at Freeman Field to come away with a 12-6 victory. Ithaca is now 13-8 on the season and 5-3 in the Empire 8, while Houghton falls to 10-14 overall and 2-8 in the conference.

Ithaca wasted no time building a lead, as sophomore Sam Little ripped a single up the middle in the bottom of the first inning to bring home senior Josh Savacool and sophomore Webb Little. Savacool found his way on base via a walk, while W. Little singled and stole second base to move into scoring position.

The Bombers plated another run in the second inning on some heads up base running by sophomore Jake Generali. Generali reached on a walk, stole second, moved up to third on a wild pitch and then scored on another errant delivery to put Ithaca up, 3-0.

In the third inning, Ithaca tacked on three more runs on five hits – all three runs scored with two outs in the frame. W. Little led off with a single and wound up at second after back-to-back outs. Senior Ryan Henchey drove in W. Little with a single up the middle for the first run and then sophomore Adam Gallagher roped a triple to the left-center gap. The inning was capped up with a base hit up the middle by junior Domenic Boresta to push home Gallagher.

Another run came home for the Bombers in the fifth to make the score 7-0 on a line-drive single to center from Boresta with Henchey on third.

Houghton got on the board in the sixth with a two-run base hit through the right side after the bases were loaded on an error, walk and infield single.

The Bombers got a run back in the bottom half of the sixth on a double by Henchey down the line. Thompson scored on the play after reaching on an error to give Ithaca an 8-2 advantage.

The Highlanders pulled to within a four-run difference, 8-4, with two runs in the seventh inning. Houghton's inning started with back-to-back walks and then a single loaded the bases. Another base hit drove in the first run, and the second run scored on a groundout.

Ithaca put the game away in the seventh with back-to-back two-run doubles from Thompson and S. Little to give the Bombers a 12-4 lead. Thompson's two-base hit scored Savacool and sophomore Matt Carey. S. Little struck one up the middle and it deflected off the glove of Houghton's pitch and went into left field, which allowed W. Little and Thompson to cross the dish.

Houghton scored twice more in the ninth inning to account for the 12-6 final.

Sophomore Zach Zottola picked up his first win of the season in six innings pitched. Zottola surrendered seven hits and two runs (no earned) with five strikeouts. Sophomore Andrew Bailey tossed two innings in relief and junior Jack Morrelo closed out the game as he pitched the ninth inning.

Ithaca produced 14 hits on the afternoon, led by a 3-for-4 effort from W. Little with three runs scored. S. Little drove in four runs on two hits, while Henchey had a perfect 2-for-2 day with two runs scored and two RBI.

The Bombers head to SUNY Canton this weekend for three conference games on Friday and Saturday. Ithaca plays at 4 p.m. on Friday and the doubleheader on Saturday starts at 1 p.m.