Baseball | 3/29/2014 4:25:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT baseball team (5-4, 1-1 Liberty League) opened up Liberty League play by splitting a pair of low scoring games against the University of Rochester (5-10, 2-4 Liberty League) on a cold, dreary, Saturday afternoon at Towers Field. RIT rallied to win game one, 4-2 and dropped game two, 1-0.

In game one, sophomore Brandon Cohall (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas) scattered three hits over 6 1/3 innings to earn the victory. Cohall retired 10 straight at one point and 16 of 18. Only six men reached base. He left in the seventh inning after a single by Rochester's Brendan Garry and a one-out walk to Brian Munoz. Brian Sheridan (Trumansburg, NY/Trumansburg) came in to pitch for the Tigers. When Rochester pinch-hit for left-handed hitter Josh Ludwig with right-handed hitter Tyler DeClerck, the Tigers replaced lefty Sheridan with righty sidearmer Tyler Leichtenberger (Warren, PA/Warren Area).
 
Down 0-2 in the count, DeClerck fought off a couple of pitches before lining the ball to the opposite field where Chris Barr (North Wales, PA/North Penn ) made a diving catch to preserve the lead. Leichtenberger retired Nate Mulberg on a comebacker to end it and earn the save.
 
Rochester took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Matt Todd was hit by a pitch with one out. With Todd in motion, Nolan Schultz doubled to centerfield. Todd scored, and when the ball was kicked away, Schultz reached third. He scored on Garry's groundout to second.
 
RIT scored a run in the third. Barr doubled, moved to third on a sacrifice, and scored on Ronnie Canestro (East Amherst, NY/Nichols)'s single to right. The Tigers loaded the bases with one out before Rochester started Michael Mondon pitched out of it. He caught Brett Kajganich (North Royalton, OH/Holy Name) looking and inducted CJ Bolorin (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) to bounce out to first. The Tigers loaded the bases again in the fifth with two outs – a walk to Skip Flanagan (Framingham, MA/Bishop Feehan), singles by Walt Roman (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) and Kajganich. Bolorin flied to left to end the ining.
 
In the sixth, RIT broke through. Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton) singled and Matt Holtby (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima) was hit by a pitch. Barr bunted and reached safely when the throw pulled Mulberg off the bag. Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence) forced Barr at second with Morgan scoring the tying run. Canestro singled through the middle for two RBIs.
 
Mondon pitched 5 1/3 innings for Rochester, allowing nine hits, four earned runs, with one walk and three strikeouts. Ethan McGowan pitched the final 1 2/3 innings without allowing a baserunner.

In game two, Rochester scored the game's only run in the bottom of the third inning, as Nate Mulberg singled and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and ground out. With two outs, Todd singled to left field, driving in Mulberg.

From there, Rochester starter Josh Schulman pitched eight innings of 1-hit ball.  The junior took a no-hitter into the seventh walked only one and struck out five, including fanning three batters on 10 pitches in the eighth inning.  Sophomore Evan Janifer came in during the ninth, picking up his second save of the year.
 
RIT starter Ethan Humbert (Rose, NY/North Rose-Wolcott) was equally as strong on the mound, throwing six innings, allowing three hits, one run and walking two for the Tigers. Conor Herlihy (Geneseo, NY/Geneseo) pitched two scoreless innings in relief  Ronnie Canestro (East Amherst, NY/Nichols) and Phil Sammon (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) picked up the base hits for RIT in game two. Sammon broke up Schulman's no-hit bid with a leadoff double down the left field line in the seventh inning. Sammon advaned to third on a sacrifice buny by Bolorin and tried to score on Hogan's fly out to left field, but Rochester's Sam Slutsky threw out Sammon at the plate to end the inning.

Rochester leads the all-time series between the two schools, 74-48-1.

The two teams are scheduled to play a second doubleheader from Rochester's Towers Field on Sunday at 1 p.m.