Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 NEW YORK (April 5, 2015) – The Vassar College baseball team rallied late in the seventh inning of the first game of a Liberty League doubleheader with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, earning a 4-3 extra innings win in action from Robertson Field at Columbia University. RPI earned the second contest of the day 8-1.
Vassar 4, RPI 3 (8 innings)Freshman
Matt Hernandez (Corona, CA/Eleanor Roosevelt) delivered a one-out, walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring junior
Dakota Sagnelli (Rumson, NJ/Rumson-Fair Haven) and clinching the 100
th career win for head coach
Jon Martin.
The Brewers got great pitching in the opener, as
Jonathan Hong (Orinda, CA/Miramonte) dazzled through seven innings, allowing just two earned runs to a very potent RPI lineup. Vassar got on the board first in the bottom of the first, as sophomore
Denis Shanagher (San Francisco, CA/St. Ignatius Prep) doubled off the centerfield wall to start the rally.
Following a lineout, junior
Nick Johnson (San Francisco, CA/St. Ignatius Prep) stepped in and bounced a ground ball through the right side to put VC on top. The Engineers jumped in front in the fourth inning, scoring three runs, two coming on a triple to right-center field by Thomas Desmond. From that point, Hong was strong, retiring the last 10 batters he faced over the last three innings.
Down two going into the seventh inning, the Brewers battled to tie the game at three with a pair of runs. After a ground out to start the frame, sophomore Brad Kendall (Redlands, CA/Redlands) doubled to start the rally. Freshman
Eric Strickland (Round Rock, TX/Round Rock) laced a single to center to score Kendall, pulling VC to within one.
After Strickland moved to second base on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, he would get to third base on a ground out by Shanagher. With two outs and the count full at 3-2, junior
Brooks English (Milton, MA/Milton Academy) drew a walk but the pick by Stephen Schiavone got past the catcher which allowed Strickland to scamper home with the tying run.
In the eighth, junior
Connor Cucalon (San Francisco, CA/St. Ignatius Prep) worked a quick 1-2-3 inning to give Vassar a chance to pick up the win. With one out, Sagnelli jumped on a 2-0 pitch and drove it off the left-center wall for a triple. Hernandez stepped up to the plate next, and drove a ground ball up the middle with a 2-2 count to win it for VC.
Shanagher finished 2-for-3 with a run scored in game one, while Strickland reached twice and extended his hit streak to eight games. Hong needed just 85 pitches to get through seven innings, as the Brewer pitching staff put down the final 13 batters RPI sent to the plate.
RPI 8, Vassar 1The Engineers (10-8, 9-3 Liberty League) got a complete game from Sean Conroy, and scored multiple runs in three innings to pick up a split in the nightcap. Vassar fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, as Nick Palmiero doubled in Jared Jensen who earlier reached on a throwing error.
RPI added to its lead with two runs in the third, two more in the fifth and three runs in the seventh, which was plenty for Conroy. The senior righty scattered seven hits while fanning seven batters to earn his second win of the season.
Seven different batters had hits for the Brewers in game two, as Johnson connected on his fifth double of the season. Vassar starter
Johnny Mrlik (San Francisco, CA/St. Ignatius Prep) was making his first start in over two years, as he struck out four Engineer hits and allowed five hits and four earned runs.
Sophomore
Robert Winkelmann (Wappingers Falls, NY/Beacon) worked 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, as he made his team-leading seventh appearance on the year. Strickland delivered a single in his third at-bat to push his hit streak to a team-high nine games.
--
The Brewers (2-8, 1-7 Liberty League) will travel to Skidmore College Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. for a makeup of a Liberty League doubleheader that was postponed earlier in the year due to snow.
--VASSAR--
