MYRTLE BEACH, SC – The University of Rochester baseball team returns home from its spring break trip to South Carolina with just one blemish on its record, sitting at 9-1 on the season after a 14-1 drubbing of Rivier University on Saturday afternoon.
Rochester now has won seven straight games after the 7-inning, mercy rule contest to conclude its southern trip. Rivier is 0-7 on the year.
Leading the way for the Yellowjackets on Saturday was senior Joseph Rende who hit for the cycle, going 4-for-5 with two runs and four RBI. Rende's last hit of the day ended the game, as he blasted a walk-off grand slam to right in the seventh inning, capping off an 8-run frame.
Rende is the first UR player to hit for the cycle since Nolan Schultz did it against Bard back in the 2015 season.
Jackson Reed also was solid at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, two stolen bases and three runs scored. Dylan Stezzi added a 2-for-2 game with both hits being triples. He drove in three and scored twice.
On the mound, Colby Cruser was spectacular for Rochester, tossing six innings while allowing just 3 hits and 1 unearned run. He struck out 11 batters and issued just one walk. Jason Cobert finished off the win with a scoreless seventh inning, striking out one batter.
Rochester's 9-1 record is the programs best start to a season since 1962 when the Yellowjackets were 8-1-1 through the season's first ten games. UR was unbeaten at 9-0 for the entirety of the 1945 campaign.
On Saturday, Rivier struck first with an unearned run in the top of the first inning.
Rochester answered in the second with three runs, two on a Stezzi triple and another thanks to a Raiders throwing error.
In the fourth, Matt Rieth singled in Reed for a 4-1 Rochester lead. Two innings later, Casey Press scored on a wild pitch and Stezzi drove in Alec Ellison with his second three-bagger of the game.
Rochester's bats ended the game with a huge seventh inning. Robert Constantine launched his first career homer to right driving in two runs. Ellison doubled in a run and Rieth walked with the bases loaded to push another across before Rende's game-ending blast of the right field wall.
The Yellowjackets return up north for a three-game set next Friday through Sunday with local rival St. John Fisher College. Friday and Sunday's games are slated to be held at Rochester, while Saturday's contest is scheduled to be played as an away contest.