ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The Vassar College baseball team opened the 2021 season with a doubleheader split in non-conference action at Bard College on Saturday, losing Game One, 10-5, and winning Game Two, 8-2.
The Raptors (1-1) scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning of Game 1, but the Brewers (1-1) started chipping away right away, cutting the deficit in half with a two-run triple by
Jaden Millstein (Margate, N.J.) in the top of the second.
Bard was up 5-2 when sophomore
Andrew Kanellis (Burke, VA) launched a long solo home run to left-center field in the top of the third to make it 5-3. Later, with Bard up 6-3 in the fifth, sophomore
Ezra Caspi (Holmdel, N.J.) hit a two-out, two-run double down the right field line to trim Bard's lead to 6-5. It remained that way until the Raptors scored four times in the bottom of the sixth, Bard held Vassar off to win the game, which was scheduled for seven innings, 10-5.
Bryce Grathwohl (Cutchogue, N.Y.) went 3-for-4 with two runs scored for Vassar, while Millstein, Kanellis and
Reid Lapekas (McKinney, Tex.) finished with two hits apiece.
In Game 2, Vassar starter
Patrick Fitzgerald (Phoenix, Md.) was the story, as he yielded just three hits and one run over five innings. As he was dominating, Vassar jumped on Bard starter Elliott Goldstein (Melville, N.Y.), scoring three times in the top of the first, the key blow a two-run triple from
Adam Talwalkar (Lexington, Ky.)
The Brewers added an unearned run in the third, and they were ahead 4-1 in the sixth when Caspi hit an RBI single, and
Ty Murray (Lenexa, Kan.) followed with a run-scoring double to make it 6-1. In the eighth, Caspi hit a solo home run and Lapekas added an RBI single to make it 8-2.
Caspi,
Brent Shimoda (Aiea, HI) and
Cameron Skudin (Melville, NY) each finished with two hits apiece.
Vassar got solid relief pitching performances from Grathwohl (two innings, one run),
Cole Eggleston (one inning, no runs) and
Ty Langford (one inning, no runs.)
Up next for Vassar in a non-league doubleheader at Union on Saturday.