The Utica College baseball team lost back-to-back games to SUNY Brockport Saturday. A late charge in the first game would not be enough as they lost 12-8 in game one and 11-1 in the second. Junior Adam Bittel (New Hartford, CT/Northwestern Region) (New Hartford, CT) led the Pioneers in the first game going 2-for-4 with a team leading five RBI's, while senior Russ Haentges (Cowlesville, NY) went 2-for-2, scoring one run and driving in another. UC was led in the second game by freshman Jeremy Clark (Thorofare, NJ/Woodbury) who went 2-for-3 while batting in the teams only run.

The Pioneers started off the early game sending sophomore Andrew Dexter (Lewiston, ME) to the mound for his third start of the season. UC was able to get on the board first as Clark reached base after a throwing error, and Haentges was able to score him with an RBI single. After giving up the lead in the second half of the first inning, the Pioneers put up three runs in the top of the third as Bittel hit a three run homer to left and UC regained the lead.

UC struggled to hold off the Golden Eagles as they had built up a 12-4 lead going into the seventh inning. The Pioneers looked to mount a comeback as sophomore John Grogan (Albany, NY/Albany) (Albany, NY) pinch –hit a homerun with a man on to cut the score to 12-6. On the next at bat, Haentges doubled to left field to bring up Bittel who hit his second home run of the game to bring the Pioneers to within four. Bittel's home run would be the last burst of offense for the Pioneers as they fell to Brockport 12-8.

In the second half of the double header the Pioneers started Junior Brendan Brady (East Islip, NY) and struggled to put runs on the board. UC started off the game by giving up four runs in the first inning to put themselves in an early hole. After getting down 5-0 past two innings the Pioneers were able to get on the board as Clark singled through the right side to score senior Adam Keller (Rome, NY) from second. Keller's lone run concluded the scoring for UC as they went on to lose 11-1.

With the two losses Utica College falls to 3-9 on the season as Brockport improves to 12-7 overall. The Pioneers will be back in action on Tuesday for their home-opener as they take on SUNY Cortland at the Utica College baseball field with an expected start time of 3:30 p.m.


---www.ucpioneers.com---