ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT baseball team (17-8, 11-4 Liberty League) earned a doubleheader split against Liberty League foe Union (18-10, 11-7 Liberty League) at Tiger Stadium on a cool, sunny, Saturday afternoon. Union took game one, 4-2, while the Tigers rallied to win game two, 7-4.

In game one, Union jumped out to the early lead in the top of the first inning, as Jake Vesling led off with a double to right center field, moved over to a third on a bunt, and scored on ground out by Jamie Faber. In the fourth inning, Union manufactured a run to make it 2-0, as Andy Labeck led off with a single, moved over on a bunt, and fly out, and scored on a wild pitch.

RIT would cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth, as CJ Bolorin (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) led off with a single to left field, stole second and third base and scored on a single by Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton).
Unfortunately for RIT, Union would add a pair of insurance runs in the sixth inning to make it 4-1.

Vesling and Labeck scored a pair of runs apiece for the Dutchmen, while Adam Ashenfarb did a masterful job keeping the RIT offense at bay, allowing five hits and one earned run in the complete-game win. He struck out eight Tigers and walked just two.

Ethan Humbert (Rose, NY/North Rose-Wolcott) pitched well for RIT but took the loss, allowing five hits and three earned runs in the complete-game. He fell to 4-2 on the season. Phil Sammon (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) walked twice, while Hogan, Chris Barr (North Wales, PA/North Penn ), Skip Flanagan (Framingham, MA/Bishop Feehan) also had hits.

In game two, RIT trailed 2-0 early before rallying with two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth, and four in the seventh inning to pull away. Sammon was 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI, while Brian Battaglia (Sliver Spring, MD/James Hubert Blake) was 2-for-2 with a double, walk, run scored, and two RBIs.

Bolorin had the big hit for RIT with two outs in the fifth inning, lacing a single to left field with the bases loaded, scoring Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence) and Battaglia to tie the game at 2-2. Union thought they were out of the inning when Flanagan grounded out with two outs, but he was awarded first base on catcher's interference.

In the sixth, Zabel hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, scoring Hogan to give RIT a 3-2 lead. In the seventh, Sammon dropped a perfectly placed ball inside the right field line to score Bolorin, who led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Battaglia laced a single to center, scoring a pair of runs to make it 6-2 and Barr hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Sammon to make it 7-2.

RIT pitcher Rory Little (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) shook off a slow start and cruised through 7 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and one earned run, while striking out two batters to improve to 5-0 on the season. Tom Dillion pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, not allowing a hit.

Union starter Ryan Kuchar took the loss, alliowing three runs (one earned) in five innings. Eric Egan and Jake Fishman both were 2-for-4.

Union leads the all-time series between the two schools, 16-10.

RIT and Union conclude their regular season series on Sunday from Tiger Stadium with a pair of games at noon. Before the game, RIT will honor seniors Barr, Bolorin, Flanagan, Humbert, Conor Herlihy (Geneseo, NY/Geneseo), and Rich Sammon (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield).