April 18, 2019

Late Rallies Secures Sweep of SUNY Poly

More news about: Keuka

Batting

SUNY Poly
2B: none
3B: none
HR: Noah Vanderbeck
Keuka
2B: Brooks Vertoske 2; Tyler Broderick; Dave Verrett
3B: none
HR: none
full stats

KEUKA PARK, N.Y. — The Keuka College Baseball twice broke late-inning ties with two-run innings to sweep a North Eastern Athletic Conference doubleheader over SUNY Poly at Kuhl Field on Thursday.

Keuka College (15-13, 8-3 NEAC) topped the Wildcats 6-4 in the opener. The Green and Gold then broke an eighth inning tie with two runs as the Wolves went on to defeat SUNY Poly 4-3 in game two.

Keuka College 6 vs. SUNY Poly 4 – Game One

The Wildcats scored first, but Keuka answered in the second as the Wolves plated a run on a groundout to level the game.

Brooks Vertoske (Horseheads, N.Y. / Horseheads) singled to start the bottom of the third inning and stole second. After a pair of strikeouts, Tyler Krowiak (Endwell, N.Y. / Seton Catholic) singled to score Vertoske and give the Wolves a 2-1 lead.

Keuka College doubled their lead the following inning. Dave Verrett (Cicero, N.Y. / Cicero-North Syracuse) hit a sacrifice fly, and Tyler Freedman (Rochester, N.Y. / Aquinas Institute) later hit an RBI single to make it 4-1.

SUNY Poly scored three runs in the top of the sixth to tie the game, but the Wolves responded in the bottom of the inning. Dave Verrett led off the inning with his first career triple. He scored on a single by Tyler Freedman and the Wolves added an insurance run as they took a 6-4 lead into the seventh.

Tyler Key (Chico, Calif. / Gridley) got the last two outs of the game via strikeouts as the Wolves defeated SUNY Poly 6-4 in game one.

Lead Wolf: Brooks Vertoske led the way for the Wolves as the junior was on base all four times to the plate. Vertoske had a hit and three walks. He also scored a pair of runs.

Keuka College 4 vs. SUNY Poly 3 – Game Two

After a brief rain delay, the two teams took the field in game two of the doubleheader and Keuka College did not wait long to get on the board. Brooks Vertoske led the bottom of the first off with a double and scored on a groundout to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead.

SUNY Poly quickly responded with a run in the top of the second. It would not be until the fifth when Keuka College struck back. The Green and Gold got a run as Dave Verrett doubled and scored on the second double of the game by Brooks Vertoske to make it 2-1.

In the top of the seventh, SUNY Poly tied the game on a solo home run to left field. The game would go to the bottom of the eighth tied 2-2. Keuka College put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. Anthony Brown (Schenectady, N.Y. / Schenectady) singled home Dan Bamann (Rochester, N.Y. / Irondequoit) to give the Wolves the lead. Anthony Mashewske (Newark, N.Y. / Newark) followed that with a single, as did Dave Verrett, scoring Brown and giving Keuka a 4-2 advantage.

The Wildcats attempted a rally of their own in the top of the ninth, scoring a run, but were unable to tie the game as Joe DiBenedetto (Nanuet, N.Y. / East Carteret (N.C.)) shut the door to give Keuka the 4-3 victory, sweeping the doubleheader.

Lead Wolf: Brooks Vertoske continued to get on base for the Wolves. He set a new career-high in hits by going 4-4 at the plate with two singles and two doubles, also a career-best. Vertoske drove in a run and scored one as well.

KC Notes:

  • The Wolves are now 11-15 all-time against SUNY Poly, but the sweep extended Keuka's winning streak over the Wildcats to five games
  • Keuka now has 15 wins on the season, fifth most in program history
  • The Green and Gold tied the 2001 team by winning their seventh straight game, second best in program history
  • The Wolves have now scored the fourth most runs (226) and had the sixth most hits (311) in a single season
  • K.C. Howe (Mount Morris, N.Y. / Mount Morris) went 6.2 innings in game two for Keuka, striking out four. Howe now has 34 strikeouts this season, tenth best in program history
  • Daniel Steve (Cortland, N.Y. / Cortland) pitched 5.2 innings in game one with a pair of strikeouts. He is right behind Howe with 33 strikeouts this season
  • Nick Brown (Liverpool, N.Y. / Liverpool) had a hit in game one, but went hitless in game two. The freshman had his 12-game hitting streak snapped. It tied for the fourth longest in Keuka College history

Up Next for Keuka College: Friday's single game against SUNY Poly has been postponed and will be made up later in the season. Keuka College returns to the field on Tuesday, April 23 when the Wolves host Houghton College at Kuhl Field in a doubleheader starting at 1pm.