FORT MYERS, FL (March 26, 2016) – The Vassar College baseball team rallied three times in the opening game of a Liberty League doubleheader Saturday afternoon with St. Lawrence University, earning a come-from-behind, 9-6 win in eight innings. Vassar would drop the fourth game of the series, as the Saints posted a 5-4, walk-off victory in the nightcap.
Game 1 – Vassar 9, St. Lawrence 6 (8 innings)The Brewers score five runs over the final two innings, including three in the deciding eight inning to rally and earn a big win in action from Terry Park Stadium Saturday morning. Down 6-4 going into the seventh inning, VC loaded the bases with one out. Following a strikeout, freshman
Taylor Smach came to the plate and drove in two runners to tie the game at six.
In the bottom of the seventh, senior
Connor Cucalon pitched around a first and second, two-out jam to send the game to extras. In the top of the eighth,
Denis Shanagher started the rally with a single. After stealing second and with two out,
Nick Johnson came up huge with an RBI double, which ending up proving to be the difference. Fellow senior
Cory Wuenschell added two more in the inning for good measure, doubling in Johnson and
Eric Strickland.
St. Lawrence loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth, but Cucalon once again stranded the runners and VC escaped with the big conference victory. SLU took a four-run lead over the first two innings, but Vassar plated three in the top of the third, as Wuenschell doubled in two runs while Johnson also plated a run on a ground ball in the infield.
St. Lawrence regained a three-run lead with two more in the third, but that would be all it would get off of Vassar starter
Adam Erkis, who settled down to hold the Saints scoreless over his next three frames. VC's pitching and defense held it in the game, allowing for the late game heroics in the seventh.
Wuenschell finished with three hits in five at-bats, driving in a team-best four runs for the Brewers. Johnson was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, while Shanagher added a 3-for-5 game, scoring twice.
Jesse Mulham came into the game and got one out before handing the ball to Cucalon, who earned the win thanks to 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, fanning two Saint batters.
Game 2 – St. Lawrence 5, Vassar 4Michael LeFevre doubled with two outs in the seventh inning, scoring Adam Reichel from first while helping SLU salvage a split in the final game for both teams down in the Sunshine State. The game-winning hit was the first time that the Saints led in game two, as both teams pulled late wins with clutch hitting.
Vassar (5-8, 2-2 Liberty) jumped out of the gate fast, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning, as Johnson drove in a run and also scored by stealing home later in the frame. St. Lawrence trimmed VC's lead to one in the bottom of the first, as Isaac Lewis tripled and scored on a ground out by Mic Regan.
In the top of the third, Vassar pushed back in front by two, as Wuenschell singled in
Brooks English who had earlier walked to lead off the inning. The Saints wouldn't go away though, scoring twice in the first and once in the sixth to tie the game at four before winning it in the seventh.
VC starter
Trent Berg tossed five innings in game two, allowing four runs on five hits, striking out three hitters. Mulham worked another third of an inning, allowing two hits and no runs, and
Robert Winkelmann was saddled with the loss after recording 1.1 innings of work, surrendering one hit and the one earned run to end the game.
English finished 2-for-2 with a walk and a run scored, while Shanagher scored twice for the Brewers.
--
Vassar will return to the diamond on Wednesday afternoon, heading up Route 9 to take on Bard College for a non-conference contest on Honey Field at 3:30 p.m. in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.
--VASSAR--
