ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT baseball team (10-4, 4-1 Liberty League) split a doubleheader against league foe Vassar College (3-9, 2-8 Liberty League) on a cool, breezy Saturday afternoon at Tiger Stadium. RIT rallied to win game one, 4-2, while Vassar rallied with three runs in the top of the ninth inning in game two, winning 6-5.
In game one, RIT trailed 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning before roaring back with one in that frame and three in the bottom of the sixth to pull out the 4-2 win.
After Denis Shanagher gave Vassar a 2-0 lead with a two-run single in the third inning, RIT starter
Ethan Humbert (Rose, NY/North Rose-Wolcott) settled down, retiring eight straight batters. In the fifth,
Will Gorman (Nassau, NY/Columbia) drew a bases loaded walk to cut the Brewers lead in half, 2-1.
RIT would take command with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Phil Sammon (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) led off with a double to left field and moved to third on a ground out to the right side by
Mike Myers (Hamlin, NY/Brockport). After a walk by
Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence),
Chris Barr (North Wales, PA/North Penn ) greeted Vassar reliever Connor Cucalon with a triple off the base of the wall in left center field, scoring both runners to give RIT a 3-2 lead.
Brett Kajganich (North Royalton, OH/Holy Name) would drive in Barr with a single to right center, giving RIT a 4-2 lead.
Vassar would threaten in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with one out, but Humbert got a big strikeout and ground out to end the rally.
Humbert picked up his third win of the season, allowing five hits and one earned run, while striking out three batters, firing 111 pitches. Barr was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, while Kajganich was 2-for-4 with a double.
Adam Erkis took the loss for Vassar, allowing three runs in 5 1/3 innings.
In game two, RIT starter
Brandon Cohall (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas) got himself in trouble early in game two, loading the bases with nobody out. He almost got out of the jam unscathed, but hit a batter and then gave up a two run bloop single to Kyle Casey that started foul, but blew back in fair down the third base line, driving in two runs to give Vassar a 3-0 lead.
Cohall would settle down and keep Vassar off the board over the next four innings before giving way to
Brian Reed (Rochester, NY/Penfield). Reed would pitch three innings of hitless relief and was in line for the win before Vassar won the game with three runs in the top of the ninth off of
Rich Sammon (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield).
Down 3-0, RIT chipped away, as
Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence) reached on an error with two outs in the fourth, scoring
Brian Battaglia (Sliver Spring, MD/James Hubert Blake) to make it 3-1. In the fifth, Gorman crushed his third home run of the season, a towering shot over the fence down the right field line to make it 3-2.
Skip Flanagan (Framingham, MA/Bishop Feehan) gave RIT a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning with a three-run homer, his third of the season, a shot to right center field that scored Barr and
Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton).
In the ninth however, Vassar regained the lead for good, as Eric Strickland tripled in a pair of runs to tie the game at 5-5 with one out and scored on a single by Brooks English two batters later.
Trent Berg started for the Brewers in game two, striking out nine batters in five plus innings, scattering six hits. Shanagher got the win on the mound, pitching a scoreless eighth inning, while Cucalon picked up his first save, getting out of a jam in the ninth.
Kajganich had two doubles in the nightcap and three overall on Saturday for the Tigers, while Flanagan and Battaglia reached base three times each in game two.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 9-7.
RIT and Vassar wrap up the regular season series on Sunday from Tiger Stadium with a doubleheader that gets underway; starting at 12 p.m. Vassar will be the designated home team for both contests.
