Box Score

WINTER HAVEN, FL (March 16, 2011) -- The Vassar College baseball team fought back from an early 5-0 deficit to defeat Gallaudet University 8-6 Wednesday afternoon at Chain of Lakes Park, its fourth straight victory to start the season. Senior Mike Plude went 3-for-4 with two RBI, and junior Scott Allen gave up just two hits in four innings of relief, to lead the Brewers.

Vassar improves to 4-0 at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational tournament, and will have a quick turnaround before an 8:30 a.m. game Thursday morning against SUNY Brockport. Gallaudet drops to 7-5 on the season, and will face Sewanee at 10:00 a.m. Thursday morning.

The Brewers used a three-run second and a four-run fifth inning to climb out of their 5-0 hole before handing the ball to Allen to preserve the lead.

Senior Joe Bubar got the Vassar comeback started in the second inning with an RBI single through the right side. The Brewers took advantage of some control issues from Gallaudet starter Layton Seeber, and scratched across two more runs on RBI walks by juniors Liam Lee and Sal Costanzo to cut the Bison lead to 5-3. Seeber had four walks and one hit-by-pitch in the inning.

Three innings later, Vassar scored four more runs off of Gallaudet reliever Chris Guinn to take the lead for good. A walk, a bunt single and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for Plude, who responded by slapping a single up the middle to score one run. Bubar collected his second RBI of the day when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and freshman Dave Robbins rounded out the fifth-inning damage with a two-run double down the left field line to make it 7-5.

Vassar starter sophomore Zander Mrlik struggled early, giving up two walks, one hit and two runs in the first inning, and four hits and three runs in the second. He settled down to allow just two hits in the next three innings combined before Allen entered the game with a 7-5 lead in the sixth.

The lefty Allen moved effectively through the Bison lineup, shutting things down completely until an unearned run scored in the ninth inning to make the score 8-6. With a runner on second base and just one out, Allen struck out the next two hitters to end the game.

Plude knocked in Vassar's final run on an RBI single to center in the bottom of the sixth. Making his first start of the year at catcher, he was nearly perfect at the plate, with a sacrifice bunt in the second, RBI singles in the fifth and sixth, and a third single in the eighth inning. Senior Devon Luongo went 2-for-4 with two runs, and senior Joe Castilla was 1-for-3 with three runs, to fuel Vassar's offense.

Leadoff hitter Tommy Barksdale had a spectacular 4-for-4 day at the plate for Gallaudet, including two runs and one RBI. Yuri Johnson added two hits.

Mrlik gave up five runs, four earned, in five innings pitched for his first win of the year, while Allen recorded a four-inning save.

Guinn was dealt the loss for Gallaudet after giving up six hits and four runs in 3.1 innings of relief.