Baseball | 4/19/2014 7:35:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CANTON, NY - Senior pitcher Tyler Leichtenberger (Warren, PA/Warren Area) set the the RIT career record for saves, as the RIT baseball team (15-9, 10-5 Liberty League) split a doubleheader against St. Lawrence (13-10, 9-6 Liberty League) for the second straight day from Fay Field on Saturday. RIT, the designated home team for the afternoon, rallied to win game one, 7-5, while St. Lawrence took game two, 8-4.

In game one, RIT was down 4-2 before rallying for five runs in the bottom of the inning for a 7-5 win.With one out, Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton) and Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence) singled and Ronnie Canestro (East Amherst, NY/Nichols) walked to load the bases. Chris Barr (North Wales, PA/North Penn ) singled in Hogan to make it 4-3, then Skip Flanagan (Framingham, MA/Bishop Feehan) hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Zabel, tying the game at 4-4. The next batter, freshman Phil Sammon (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) played the hero by crushing a three-run homer to snap the tie and give RIT a 7-4 edge. It was his third home run of the season, tying for the team lead.

Leichtenberger came on in the seventh and worked around a pair of errors to record his fourth save of the season and 12th of his career. The 12 saves are a new school record, smashing the previous mark of 11, held by Mark Breitenbach, who pitched from 1998-2002.

Rory Little (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) earned his second straight win, allowing four hits and four unearned runs, while striking out two batters. The Tigers made seven errors in the win.

RIT took a 1-0 lead on a single by Canestro and an error in the bottom of the first, but the Saints came back with two in the top of the second. Devin Robson doubled and scored when Zane Fish reached on an error. Fish later scored on Brian Magovney's sacrifice fly. It went to 3-1 in the top of the third on Palermo's single, a hit batter and an error on Khifer O'Connor's grounder.

The Tigers cut it to 3-2 on Canestro's run-scoring grounder in the bottom of the fourth, but the Saints got that right back in the top of the fifth as Mark Syron reached after being hit by a pitch with two out and scored on an error.

Will Gorman (Nassau, NY/Columbia) went 3-for-4 in game one, while Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton) had a pair of hits for the Tigers.

In game two, Dan Hedden surrendered three unearned runs on a two run double by Flanagan and a fielder's choice by Gorman in the bottom of the first, but the Saints bounced right back to tie it in the top of the second with a run scoring single by Regan and a double by Palermo. The Saints took the lead in the top of the third as O'Connor led off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Prindle.

The Saints tacked on a run in the top of the sixth as Magovney singled, advanced on Regan's single, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Palermo's fielder's choice. They added three in the top of the eighth on two-out singles by Chris Fernandez and Regan, an error, Palermo's single and a run-scoring single by Syron. RIT got one run back off reliever Jake Farrell in the bottom of the ninth on Brett Kajganich (North Royalton, OH/Holy Name)'s run-scoring single, but could get no closer.

Bryan Palermo went 3-for-5 and drove in three runs in game two for the Saints and Mic Regan was 3-for-4. Dan Hedden earned his first collegiate win, going seven innings and allowing no earned runs. Jake Farrell pitched two innings in relief to lock down the win.

St. Lawrence now leads the all-time series between the two schools, 43-30. Yesterday, RIT defeated the Saints, 4-0 in game one, and lost in game two, 11-1.

RIT is right back in action on Monday, with a non-conference home contest against The College at Brockport. First pitch from Tiger Stadium is at 4:30 p.m.