ANNVILLE, PA – The Vassar baseball team dropped two close games in Sunday's doubleheader against Lebanon Valley. The Brewers fall to 5-7 overall, while the Dutchmen move to 8-5. In the opening game, Vassar fell 4-6 and then lost 6-7 in the extra inning in the second contest.
Lebanon Valley took a 0-2 lead in the first inning when Dave Mangold singled Max Kaplan for the opening run. The Dutchmen tacked on another run when Nico Santoro reached home after an Ethan O'Loughlin single. After that, it became a pitching battle, with neither side scoring until the sixth inning.
At the bottom of the fourth, senior Dawson Dullnig (San Antonio, TX) grounded out the first Dutchmen batter and then struck out the following two. Then at the top of the sixth, the Vassar offense woke up with four runs to take a 4-2 lead. Junior Andrew Kanellis (Burke, VA) doubled to the right-center to advance first-year Birch Herring-Jackson (East Aurora, NY) to third base and let Jaden Millstein (Margate, NJ) score. Sophomore Ty Murray (Lenexa, KS) singled in Kanellis and Herring-Jackson, and then Murray brought the fourth run in on a wild pitch.
Vassar's lead was kept short as LVC responded with four runs at the bottom of the frame. Mangold scored on a sacrifice fly, and two singles made it 4-6 before the final batter flew out to the center field. The Dutchmen's Michael Williams pitched the seventh inning and locked into strikeout the final three Vassar batters.
Kanellis went 3-for-3 with one run and one RBI. Dawson pitched 5.0 innings with three strikeouts.
Tanner Rock went 5.1 innings with ten strikeouts, while Dozier (1-0) earned the win.
After a scoreless first two innings, the Dutchmen struck first in game two. Jace Fetterman led off a home run to the right field to make it 0-1. Mangold grounded out to shortstop, but Kaplan reached home. Lebanon Valley added one more run to make it 0-3 when Shane Stossel singled to bring Santoro in for the run.
LVC tacked on a run in the fourth after Ryan Murphy scored on a Vassar fielding error. The Brewers continued to struggle until the sixth inning. Junior Alex Warren (Bethesda, MD) stole third before a Millstein single brought him home. Millstein tallied a run after Jackson-Herring singled to right-center to cut the lead to 2-4.
Another Dutchmen run in the seventh made it 2-5, and Vassar stayed close with a sacrifice fly run in the eighth to make it 3-5. Time was winding down for the Brewers, and the first two Vassar batters got taken out. Kanellis picked up a single to the left side to reach home. Murray came up to bat and launched a home run to the right-center field to record the equalizer at 5-5.
At the bottom of the ninth, pitcher Michael Came (Olympia, WA) struck out two Dutchmen before intentionally walking the next. With one runner on base, O'Loughlin pinch hit and flew out to the right field to end the inning.
Vassar scored one run in the extra inning to take a 6-5 lead. Millstein singled to the right side, bringing Jack Story (Marietta, GA) in for the go-ahead run. The Dutchmen loaded the bases at their turn to bat, and Murphy scored when the batter was walked to tie 6-6. Lebanon Valley then completed the doubleheader sweep when the following batter was walked.
Vassar plays its home and conference opener against St. Lawrence next on Sat. Mar. 26 at 12 p.m. on Prentiss Field.
