HOUGHTON, NY – The RIT baseball team (1-0) brought the bats to open the 2016 season, scoring seven runs over the first seven innings, rolling to a 7-3 victory over Fredonia State University (3-2) at the Houghton Baseball Stadium at Houghton College on an unseasonably warm Wednesday afternoon.
 
The Tigers scored seven runs on 16 hits. Dom Scialabba (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) led the way with a career-high four hits for the Tigers, driving in two runs. Will Gorman (Nassau, NY/Columbia) went 3-for-5, with two doubles and a run batted in. Phil Sammon (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) was 2-for-4 with a double, walk, and two runs scored. Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton) had a hit and drove in two runs, while Zach Zabel (Clarence, NY/Clarence), Brett Kajganich (North Royalton, OH/Holy Name), and Mike Myers (Hamlin, NY/Brockport) each drove in a run. Zabel also walked three times. On the mound, eight different RIT pitchers combined to hold Fredonia to three earned runs. Brett DeLola (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker) was credited with the win, the first of his collegiate career, pitching two scoreless innings of relief.
 
For the Blue Devils, Quinn Danahy went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Ciro Frontale and Robert Weigand also drove in runs. Zach Lyman pitched two innings of relief, allowing three runs on six hits for the loss.
 
RIT wasted no time getting on the board in 2016. After Zabel led the game with a walk, Hogan drove Zabel home with an RBI double, giving the Tigers the 1-0 lead.
 
Fredonia would answer in the second. The Blue Devils would score on an error, tying the game at one.
 
The Tigers took the lead for good, scoring at least a run from the fourth through seventh innings.  Myers led the way in the fourth inning with a single, followed by a Scialabba single, to advance Myers to third. Zabel struck an RBI double, advancing Scialabba to third, and scored on a groundout by Hogan, increasing the Tiger lead to 3-1.
 
RIT would pepper a run in the fifth, as Sammon scored on a fielders choice by Myers, and in the sixth, off an RBI single by Kajganich, which scored Gorman. In the bottom of the sixth, Fredonia threatened, as Michael Prentice took advantage on the basepaths, advancing to third after a two-out walk. Jake Bianchi (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Ludden) forced Kelly to ground out to end the inning.
 
In the top of the seventh, RIT increased its lead. Sammon and Brian Battaglia (Sliver Spring, MD/James Hubert Blake) singled to begin the inning, followed by a Myers walk to load the bases. Scialabba came up to the plate and singled, scoring two runs, to increase the lead to 7-1.
 
The Blue Devils responded with two runs of their own at the bottom of the inning, reducing the deficit to four, and had runners at the corners in the bottom of the eighth inning, with two outs. Brett Bouchard (Fairport, NY/Fairport) got himself out of a jam, forcing a pop fly to Gorman to end the threat. In the ninth, Daniel Zeglen (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) pitched a 1-2-3 inning to give the Tigers the victory.

Brian Sheridan (Trumansburg, NY/Trumansburg), Mike Cardone (Patchogue, NY/Patchouge-Medford), DeLola, Jameson Moran (Geneseo, NY/Geneseo), Bianchi, Kyle Povlock (Fairport, NY/Fairport), Bouchard, and Zeglen did the job on the mound for RIT. Patrick Mylott (Aurora, OH/Western Reserve Academy), also made his collegiate debut behind the plate and added a hit in the eighth inning. It was the collegiate debuts for Cardone, DeLola, Moran, Bianchi, and Zeglen.

The Tigers will hit the road for a three-game series against Immaculata University on Friday and Saturday. Game one will begin on Friday at 3 p.m.