PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – The University of Rochester baseball team scored seven runs over the final three innings to break open a tight game, completing a three-game series sweep over Hobart College with a 17-7 win on Monday evening at Towers Field.
The 17 runs were a season-high for the Yellowjackets (12-7, 4-2 Liberty League), with Rochester's bats hitting double-digit runs for the third time in the last four contests. Hobart falls to 2-12 and 0-6 in the Liberty League following the loss.
Monday's contest was initially slated to be played at McDonough Park in Geneva, but poor field conditions necessitated the move to Rochester's campus.
Despite playing on its own field, the Yellowjackets batted as the visiting team and struck first, getting a single run in the top of the first inning on a Joseph Rende sacrifice fly. UR didn't even record a hit in the inning, as Josh Leadem led off with a walk, stole second and moved to third on a balk before trotting home on Rende's fly ball.
Hobart took its first lead of the series in the bottom of the inning, tallying three runs off of Rochester starting pitcher Dillon Bevan. Nate Garrett drew a bases loaded walk and Will Jones provided a 2-run single to left to put the Statesmen up 3-1.
Bevan settled in after the rough first inning though, pitching into the fifth. He ended one out shy of going long enough for the win though, as he tossed 4.2 innings, scattered 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6. He gave up four runs on the night.
After UR got one run back on a wild pitch in the third, the Yellowjackets took the lead in the fourth with four runs. John Moses provided a big hit with a solo home run to left. Dan Tirabassi, Joe Siciliano and Luke Gregory added RBI hits in the frame and UR was up 6-3.
Aaron Whitley boosted the lead to four with an RBI single in the fifth, but Hobart's Christian Petry got that run back for Hobart, driving in a run with a single through the infield.
In the sixth, Rochester tacked on three more runs to go up 10-4. Leadem and Gregory executed a 1st-and-3rd double steal, Rende drove in Leadem once again with a base hit and Jackson Reed tripled to right, scoring Rende.
Once again, Hobart erased those three runs with three of its own in the bottom half of the sixth off of reliever Colby Cruser. A pair of Rochester errors didn't help the cause, with all three runs in the frame being logged as unearned against Cruser. The sophomore lefty picked up the win, striking out three in his inning of work.
After a scoreless seventh inning, Rochester broke out in the eighth, scoring five times. Reed and Whitley both tripled, driving in three runs between the two, with pinch hitter Alec Ellison providing a sacrifice fly. The fifth UR run scampered in on a wild pitch.
In the ninth, Gregory capped a terrific night with an inside-the-park home run to right center, while Moses added an RBI infield hit.
Meanwhile, Rochester pitchers kept mowing down Hobart hitters via the strikeout. The five UR hurlers ended with a total of 17 strikeouts in the game, second most in team history.
Besides Bevan's six and Cruser's three whiffs, both Thomas Karpishin and Thomas Blaydes struck out three and Mark Aaronson closed out the win with a pair of K's in the ninth.
At the plate, Gregory led UR with three hits, finishing a double shy of the cycle. He added three runs, two RBI and a stolen base. Rende was 2-for-5 with three runs and two RBI.
Reed clubbed two triples and drove in three, while Leadem crossed home plate four times, going 1-for-2 with three walks and four stolen bases. Whitley added a 2-for-5 game with two runs and two RBI, while Siciliano also notched a multi-hit game.
The Yellowjackets have Tuesday off before hitting the road for a big non-conference matchup at SUNY Cortland on Wednesday. Rochester's next conference series is set for Friday and Saturday against Clarkson at Towers Field.