Box Score HOUGHTON, NY – The Utica College baseball team fell 12-1 in its Empire 8 Conference opener at Houghton on Friday. Vincent Burillo (Montgomery, NY/Valley Central ) led the team with two hits. Freshman Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck), making his first varsity appearance, doubled and scored a run. Classmate Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) also registered his first collegiate hit as he doubled and had an RBI.
 
Matthew DeMartino (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside) also had a hit for Utica. Alex Rocci (Utica, NY/Notre Dame) started on the mound but after giving up two runs and three hits in the first inning he was replaced by Gavin McCann (Highland, NY/Highland). McCann went four innings giving up six earned runs and striking out two. Dom Caccioppoli (Circleville, NY/Pine Bush ) pitched the final three innings giving up two earned runs and two unearned runs.
 
The Pioneers are now 0-9 overall and 0-1 in conference play on the year. The Highlanders improved to 10-9 and 1-0 in conference play. UC will take on Houghton in a doubleheader Saturday with the first game starting at 12:00 p.m.
 
The Highlanders were led by the first two hitters in their lineup as Michael Knapp had two hits, scored one run, and had three RBI's and Patrick Parsons had two hits, scored one run, and had two RBI's. Edward Monthie pitched seven shutout innings only giving up three hits and striking out five. Sean Brown pitched the final two innings giving up two hits and a run while striking out one.
 
Houghton jumped ahead early, scoring two runs in each of the first three innings to take a 6-0 lead going into the fourth inning. The Highlanders struck again in the fifth with two more runs to take an 8-0 lead. In the eighth inning Houghton would add four more runs to prevent any late game heroics by the Pioneers as they took a 12-0 lead. Utica didn't give up, scoring its only run in the ninth inning off back-to-back doubles by Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck) and Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) to make it 12-1.