ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The Vassar baseball team split Saturday afternoon's doubleheader with Bard in a key Liberty League match. The Raptors (14-15, 8-9 Liberty) took game one 2-6 before the Brewers (14-19, 5-11 Liberty) won 10-6 in the second game.
The Raptors used four runs in the first inning to take an early 0-4 lead and did not relinquish it to the Brewers. Bard's Jared Toby singled two runs, and then Justin Fiume doubled to right field to add two more runs. Vassar was taken out 1-2-3 in its next at-bat, and Bard tacked on one more run in the third after Jake Stacey hit a sacrifice fly to allow Jordan Myers to reach home.
At the top of the fourth, Andrew Kanellis tripled to right field after the Brewers took two outs. Junior Ezra Caspi followed up with a single, which brought Kanellis to cut the lead to 1-5. Bard scored another run in the fourth, and the next three innings went without a run from either side.
Vassar scored in the top of the eighth when the bases were loaded. Kanellis was walked, and Jaden Millstein tallied the run to make it 2-6. The Brewers could not score again, as Bard held on for the win.
Sophomore Frankie Murphy pitched 5.2 innings with three hits, one run, and a career-high seven strikeouts. Bard's Aidan Risse went 7.0 innings with seven hits, two runs, and four strikeouts. Bryant Elliott picked up the save, going 2.0 innings, and struck out three batters.
After trailing 2-5 in the second game, the Brewers used a seven-run fifth inning to take their first lead. Bard scored three runs in the first after Meyers stole home, and then Fiume doubled in Toby. Neither side scored until the fourth, when Adam Talwalkar doubled in Kanellis and Reid Lapekas to make it 2-3. The Raptors answered with one run in the bottom of the fourth to hold a three-run lead.
At the top of the fifth, first-year Jack Story led off with a double down the left-field line, and Birch Herring-Jackson followed with a single bunt before stealing second. Jaden Millstein singled home Story, and Lapekas used a sacrifice bunt to let Herring-Jackson score to make it 4-5. Millstein scored a run, and Talwalkar hit a four-run home run to give Vassar a 9-5 lead. Senior Ty Langford helped take out the Bard batters 1-2-3 in the fifth when he struck out two, and another flew out to the right field.
Vassar tallied another run in the sixth after Lapekas hit a double to left field, which allowed Millstein to score. Bard earned one more run in the final inning, but Vassar could secure the doubleheader split.
Langford (2-1_ pitched 2.0 innings with one hit, one run, and two strikeouts, while Joe Sabo relieved and gave up no hits or runs in 1.0 inning.
The Brewers wrap up the series and the regular season with a single game against Bard at noon tomorrow on Prentiss Field.
