Baseball | 4/9/2014 8:49:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ROCHESTER, NY - For the second time in 11 days, the RIT baseball team (10-5, 5-2 Liberty League) and University of Rochester (10-12, 6-6 Liberty League) split a pair of Liberty League games at Towers Field on Wednesday. Rochester won game one, a scheduled seven-inning affair, 3-2 in nine innings. Game two, a scheduled nine-inning contest, was pushed back to seven innings since the opener went into extra innings. RIT jumped out to 3-0 and 4-1 leads before hanging on to win, 4-3.

In game one, Rochester scored a pair of runs in the second inning to grab the early 2-0 lead, as Brendan Garry doubled off of RIT starter Conor Herlihy (Geneseo, NY/Geneseo) and came around to score on a single by Ethan Sander. After Sander stole second, he scored on a single by Josh Ludwig.

RIT came right back in the bottom half of the inning, as Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton) walked, moved to second, and scored on a single by Chris Barr (North Wales, PA/North Penn ). In the third, CJ Bolorin (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) tripled to right field and scored on a single by Walt Roman (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport), the reigning Liberty League Player of the Week, tying the game at 2-2.

RIT had a golden chance to win the game in the both the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, RIT had runners on first and second with nobody out, then runners on second and third with one out and could not getting the winning run across. In the eighth, RIT once again had runners on second and third with one out and could not capitalize. Rochester would get the winning run in the ninth on a double by Sander that scored Steve Eychner.

Roman and Barr were both 2-for-4 with a run batted in for the Tigers. Herlihy would last five innings on the mound, allowing just four hits and two runs, while throwing 57 pitches. Brian Sheridan (Trumansburg, NY/Trumansburg) pitched 2/3 of a scoreless inning in relief, before Tyler Leichtenberger (Warren, PA/Warren Area) allowed four hits and a run over the final 3 1/3 innings taking the loss.

Sander was 2-for-3 with a fdouble and two RBI's for Rochester. Evan Janifer earned the win, pitching two scoreless innings of relief. Dan Warren allowed eight hits and two runs over the first 5 1/3 innings.

In game two, the Tigers took advantage of five Rochester errors to score three unearned runs, racing out to leads of 3-0 and 4-1 before the Yellowjackets made it interesting in the seventh inning, scoring twice and putting the tying run on base.

The Tigers jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second inning, all with two outs, as Barr reached on an error and moved to second on a walk by Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence). Ronnie Canestro (East Amherst, NY/Nichols) loaded the bases with an infield single and Bolorin made it 1-0, reachign on an error by the first baseman. A bases loaded walk by Flanagan made it 2-0 RIT.

RIT made it 3-0 in the fourth, as Canestro led off with a triple to right center field and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bolorin. The two teams traded unearned runs to make it 4-1 RIT heading into the top of the seventh. RIT starter Rory Little (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) walked the leadoff hitter in the seventh and was pulled in favor of Sheridan, who also walked his first batter faced. After the two runners moved up on a passed ball, Sheridan got Matt Todd to line out to right field before Leichtenberger entered the game. A single and a sacrifice fly cut the RIT lead to 4-3. After Ethan Sander stole second, Leichtenberger got Lance Hamilton to ground out and end the game.

Little allowed just five hits and two unearned runs, while striking out three batters in six-plus innings to record his first win of the season. Leichtenberger recorded his third save of the season and 11th of his RIT career, tying the school record held by Mark Breitenbach, who pitched from 1998-2002.

As per Liberty League rules, RIT was the designated home team for both games on Wednesday, since it was the second doubleheader between the two teams. On March 29, the two teams split a pair of contests at Towers Field, as RIT won that opener, 4-2, before Rochester won the second game, 1-0.

Rochester leads the all-time series between the two schools, 75-49-1. Roman was hit by a pitch three times today, giving him 65 for his RIT career, top-10 all-time in Division III history.

The Tigers are back in action this weekend with a pair of home doubleheaders against Liberty League for Skidmore at Tiger Stadium. Saturday's doubleheader starts at 1 p.m., while Sunday's gets underway at 12 p.m.