AUBURNDALE, FL – The RIT baseball team (1-0) opened the 2018 season by defeating Penn State-Altoona (2-8) by a score of 9-3 at Lake Myrtle Field on Friday afternoon.
 
The Tigers scored a run in each of the first two innings before blowing the game open with six runs in the third inning to take a commanding 8-0 lead. The Lions would score a run in the third, sixth and ninth innings, but was not nearly enough to threaten.
 
RIT's offense slammed 13 hits. Navada Waterman provided a jolt from the leadoff spot in the lineup, going 4-for-5 with two runs scored, two runs batted in and a stolen base. Daniel Zeglen (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) was 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs batted in, while Dom Scialabba (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) doubled twice and drove in a run. Patrick Mylott (Aurora, OH/Western Reserve Academy) added two hits.
 
Ben Clough (Tolland, CT/Tolland) earned the start for the Tigers and was strong, scattering seven hits, while allowing two runs with two strikeouts in six innings. Colin Reformat made his collegiate debut by pitching a scoreless seventh inning with a strikeout, while Michael Campbell (Honeoye Falls, NY/McQuaid Jesuit) struck out two batters in a scoreless eighth inning. Nick Claver finished the game for the Tigers.
 
In the third inning, singles by Mylott and Jason Schulz (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and a hit-by-pitch from Daniel Capra loaded the bases with one out. Waterman drove in two with a single to make it 4-0. Zeglen tripled in Capra and Waterman to make it 6-0, while a double by Scialabba drove in Zeglen to give RIT a 7-0 lead. Scialabba would score on an error.
 
The Tigers are the defending Liberty League Champions and made their first NCAA Tournament Appearance in 2017.
 
RIT is right back in action on Saturday morning against Ohio Northern University at 9 a.m. at Lake Myrtle Park Field #5.