AUBURNDALE, N.Y. – While the game was suspended in the fifth inning due to weather, the Vassar baseball team earned a 10-4 victory over Lakeland on Saturday morning. The Brewers move to 2-5, while the Muskies slip to 7-4 overall.
After an initial delay, the game finally started. The Muskies struck first with Jack Banks fitting a sacrifice fly to left field to bring Nathan Hemmerling home. First-year pitcher Pat Kerrigan (Jamison, PA) struck out the following two Lakeland batters to close the frame and keep it 0-1.
At the bottom of the first, junior Alex Warren (Bethesda, MD) singled to left field and then reached third when sophomore Reid Lapekas (McKinney, TX) hit a single. Lapekas stole second, and a Muskies' wild pitch allowed Warren to score. Lapekas made it 2-1 when Bryce Grathwohl (Cutchogue, NY) singled to center field. Junior Nick Greenhawt (Heber City, UT) struck a double to bring in two more runs before the end of the inning.
Lakeland evened the score in the second. With two outs, a Vassar error let Hunter Frisk score, and then a triple from Collin Schutz brought another Muskies' run in. Schutz stole home to tie 4-4.
The innings moved quickly until the bottom of the fourth when the Brewers retook the lead. Jaden Millstein (Margate, NJ) used a sacrifice fly to get first-year Michael Lee (Mercer Island, WA) home plate. Vassar went 1-2-3 against the Lakeland batters at the top of the fifth and then rattled off five runs in the bottom of the frame.
Andrew Kanellis (Burke, VA) led off with a double to left field and reached third after Grathwohl grounded out. The following Brewer struck out before Ty Murray (Lenexa, KS) doubled to bring Kanellis home. First-year Birch Jackson-Herring (East Aurora, NY) tallied his first-career hit off a bunt, and a Daniel Laderman (Tel Aviv, Israel) singled to let Murray score. Millstein doubled to get runs from Laderman and Jackson-Herring, and Millstein recorded the 10th run off a passed ball. That proved to be the final score as the weather ended the game right after.
Kerrigan (1-1) struck out four batters, while junior Cole Eggleston (Phoenixville, PA) earned the save.
Vassar is back on Sunday to play a doubleheader against Endicott starting at 3 p.m. on Lake Myrtle Field 2.