AURORA, N.Y. – Less than 14 hours after returning to campus from its spring break trip to Florida, the Southern Vermont College baseball team went back on the road for a three-game weekend series at Wells College; the Mountaineers slugged the ball to win the opener 19-7 Saturday afternoon at Wells Turf Field.
After scoring twice in the top of the first, SVC nearly batted around twice in the second as the Mountaineers rallied for 11 runs. The game was never in doubt after that as the teams traded scores for Southern Vermont to maintain its strong upper hand and close out the win.
SVC (4-6-1) reached double digits in the runs column for the fourth time in its last six games with the two outliers seeing the Mountaineers score at least seven times.
The two sides will again take to the field Sunday for a doubleheader slated to begin at 8:30 a.m.
Mountaineer junior third baseman Kyle Liddy (Oriskany, N.Y.) had an amazing day at the plate as he went 5-7 with two triples, a double, seven RBI's, and a run scored. Senior catcher Dan Mason (Bloomingdale, N.J.) was 3-5 with a walk, four runs scored, and two runs batted in while sophomore second baseman Zac Cronk (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) went 3-6 with two runs scored and an RBI. Mason's third hit of the game made him the 15th player in program history to post 100 in their Southern Vermont career.
SVC senior first baseman Ryan Serrato (Whittier, Calif.) extended his hitting streak to 11-straight games—having registered at least one in each of the team's contests this year—as he was 2-5 with a walk, four runs batted in, and two runs scored.
Southern Vermont senior right-hander Joe Braim (Saratoga, N.Y.) moved up into a tie for second on the program's all-time wins list (10) after tossing a stellar six innings in which he allowed just two runs (one earned) on eight hits and a walk; he struck out two in the victory (2-1).
Liddy's first triple came in the top of the first when he put one out to left to plate a pair. The Mountaineers then opened it up in the second when they scored 11 runs on nine hits—three of their knocks going for extra bases.
With runners at first and second, Serrato raked his first triple of the year to bring home two. Liddy followed with his second three-bagger of the day, and sophomore shortstop Nick Guajardo (Mansfield, Texas) batted in his teammate to make it 6-0. SVC then batted all the way around as Mason, Liddy, and Guajardo each tallied a run-scoring hit later in the frame to put their team on top 13-0.
After Wells got on the board with a lone run in the bottom of the second, Liddy continued his stellar day with an RBI-single up the middle in the fifth. SVC would add three more in the sixth, and Liddy then connected for a two-run double in the eighth to put it out of the hosts' reach.
– #LetsGoSVC –