HOUGHTON, N.Y. — The Keuka College Baseball team dropped a pair of Empire 8 Conference games at Houghton University on Monday.
Keuka College (3-16, 2-4 Empire 8) lost the opening game 8-4 in 11 innings, the longest game for the Wolves in two years. The Green and Gold then dropped the nightcap 6-4 to the Highlanders.
Houghton University 8 vs. Keuka College 4 – 11 innings
The Highlanders carried a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the third, but the Wolves would tie it up. Ian Ruhmel (Horseheads, N.Y. / Horseheads) led off the inning with a triple to right. He then scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-1. Tyler Lewandowski (Milltown, N.J. / Spotwood) followed with a walk. Later with two outs, Lewandowski scored on a double by RJ Murphy (Syracuse, N.Y. / West Genesee) to tie the game.
The Wolves took the lead in the fourth, but Houghton answered back with two runs in the sixth and carried a 4-3 advantage into the bottom of the seventh.
The Wolves had a runner on first with two outs in the seventh. Lewandowski reached on a single to the shortstop to extend the game. Derek Novicki (North Haven, Conn. / North Haven) delivered with a single to right to score pinch runner JR Radomski (Buffalo, N.Y. / Nichols School) to tie the game.
The game extended until the 11th inning. Houghton scored four runs in the top of the inning. The Wolves had a pair of hits in the bottom of the frame but were unable to bring the tying run to the plate as the Wolves dropped game one 8-4 in 11 innings.
Lead Wolf: Alex Evans (Liverpool, N.Y. / Liverpool) pinch hit in the seventh and led off with a single. The first-year ended up with two hits in three at-bats and stole a bag.
Houghton University 6 vs. Keuka College 4
Houghton carried the momentum of the extra-inning victory to game two as the Highlanders scored three in the top of the first inning.
Kole Schmerder (Vestal, N.Y. / Vestal) got one on the board for the Wolves in the second with a solo home run, but the Highlanders answered right back with two more in the third inning.
Matt Vaccaro (Fayetteville, N.Y. / Fayetteville-Manlius) led off the fourth with a walk and moved his way around the bags. He scored on a groundout by Donald Nemeth (Guilderland, N.Y. / Guilderland) to make it 5-2.
The Wolves got one back in the sixth on a two-out RBI double by Nemeth, but he would be stranded at third as the game went to the seventh with Houghton leading 5-3.
Houghton got an insurance run in the top of the seventh and tried for a second, but Matt Vaccaro threw out the runner at the plate to keep it 6-3. The Wolves loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the inning. Following a strikeout, RJ Murphy worked a bases-loaded walk to score a run, but the next batter struck out as Keuka stranded the bases loaded and lost 6-4.
Lead Wolf: Anthony Laurinitis (Philadelphia, Pa. / Father Judge) struck out 11 batters in 5.2 innings of work. He now has 114 punchouts in his career, third-best in program history.
Up Next for Keuka College: The Wolves will now prepare for another Empire 8 Conference series. Keuka College will host St. John Fisher University in a three-game conference series this weekend at Kuhl Field. The Wolves will host the Cardinals in a doubleheader on Saturday and then a single game on Sunday.