Baseball | 4/5/2014 1:29:00 PM

Box Score

ROCHESTER, NY – Through the cold and snow, the RIT Baseball team (9-4, 4-1 Liberty League) cruised to a 21-1 victory over conference foe Bard (3-10-1, 0-4-1 Liberty League) on the back of Walt Roman (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport)'s record setting game for the Tigers on Saturday morning at Monroe Community College. Roman set school records by hitting for the cycle, recording six base hits, scoring five runs, and racking up 12 total bases.
 
In his first at bat, Roman lifted a ball deep to left field that hit off the fence and allowed him to get to third for a triple. In the top of the third, Roman drove in a run with his double to left field, which at the time gave RIT a 2-1 lead. One inning later, Roman crushed a ball over the left field fence for two-run homer, before grabbing an RBI single in the top of the sixth to complete the cycle.
 
Roman would add a single in both the seventh and eighth innings to make it six hits on the day. It was just the second time in school history a player had five hits in a game, and the first ever someone had six. It is also the first known cycle recorded at RIT through six decades of baseball. He now has three homers and 18 RBI's this season.
 
RIT pitcher Ethan Humbert (Rose, NY/North Rose-Wolcott) was fantastic for the Tigers, earning the win after pitching six solid innings, allowing just one run on three hits and striking out a career-best nine batters. After allowing a triple to lead off the game, Humbert went on to retire the next 13 batters in a row before an Aaron DePetris single broke up the streak in the fifth.
 
RIT's 24 hits tied a school record, set on May 5, 1959 vs. SUNY Geneseo. The 21 runs scored by RIT in one game nearly broke the school record of 22 set last season against SUNY Canton, when the Tigers won 22-1.
 
Skip Flanagan (Framingham, MA/Bishop Feehan) had four hits of his own on the day, on six plate appearances, tying a school mark by tripling twice and racking up three RBI's, while scoring three runs. Freshman Phil Sammon (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) hit his first collegiate home run in the ninth inning, launching a three-run shot into left field that bounced off the top of the fence and over to make it 18-1. CJ Bolorin (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) scored a career-high four runs, while Zabel was 3-for-7 with three runs scored. Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton) and Mike Myers (Hamilin, NY/Brockport) had two hits apiece.
 
Bard was considered the home team for this neutral site game and after a 1-2-3 top of the first for Raptors pitcher P.J. Fisher, his team responded with a run on a Quinn Mclnerney groundout, which scored Fisher from third.
 
RIT would respond quickly in the top of the second though after a Roman triple led off the inning. A few pitches later a ball bounced past Bard catcher Alec Montecalvo and Roman raced home on a pass ball to tie the game at 1-1. In the next inning, Roman came up big again with a double that drove in Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence) from second that gave RIT a lead that they would never relinquish. From there they added 19 runs over the final seven innings, being held scoreless in only the first and fifth innings.

The Tigers won a pair of games over Bard on Friday, by scores of 14-1 and 9-7. The Tigers have now won four straight contests.
 
The Tigers return to action on Tuesday, April 8 as they head to Brockport for a game slated for a 4 p.m. start, before heading to cross-town rival Rochester for a double-header one day later.