UTICA, NY – The Utica College baseball team was victorious in back-to-back games against Empire 8 Conference opponent Ithaca on Saturday. The Pioneers improved to 4-15 overall with a 4-7-conference record while Ithaca fell to 13-12 overall with a 5-3-conference record.
Utica held off the Bombers for a 7-5 victory in the first game while coming from behind to best Ithaca 9-8 in the second game. The teams return to action on Sunday for a nine-inning game starting at 1 p.m.
Utica 7, Ithaca 5-Game One
Joshua Webb (Verona, NY/VVS) got the start for Utica and pitched a complete game giving up five runs (four earned) and striking out five.
JT Ross (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) led the Pioneer offense with two hits, a walk, and two RBI.
Benji Parkes got the start for the Bombers and went five innings giving up four runs (three earned) and striking out seven. Ryan Contegni pitched one inning giving up three runs and earned the loss. Josh Savacool led the team with two hits and two RBI on the day.
Utica started the scoring when Ross doubled home two runs in the third inning and picked up another run when
Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS) hit home
Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead. The Bombers would tie the game at three off of a big three run fifth inning. UC would score four in the sixth to make it a 7-3 game. Ithaca would score two runs in the seventh but the rally would fall short.
Utica 9, Ithaca 8-Game Two
Ed Zakrzewski (Rome, NY/Rome Catholic) got the start for Utica and pitched five innings giving up five runs (three earned) and striking out one.
Gavin McCann (Highland, NY/Highland) earned the win while pitching 2.1 innings and giving up three runs (two earned).
Vincent Burillo (Montgomery, NY/Valley Central ) pitched 1.2 innings and earned the save while allowing one hit and striking out one.
Matthew DeMartino (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside) and
Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS) led the team with two RBI apiece.
Brandon Diorio pitched 3.1 innings giving up five earned runs while Zach Zotolla pitched 3.1 innings giving up four runs (two earned) and taking the loss. Ryan Contegni pitched 1.1 innings allowing one hit and striking out two. Sam Little led the team with two RBI.
Ithaca started the scoring by scoring one run in the first and second innings. Utica would tie the game up in the second inning when
Bryce Patterson (Corning, NY/Corning East) doubled home DeMartino and Tiffin singled home
Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck). In the third inning Utica would take a 3-2 lead when
JT Ross (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) crossed the plate. Ithaca would tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth before Utica used the home half to take a 5-3 lead. The Bombers would use the fifth, sixth, and top half of the seventh inning to take an 8-5 lead. DeMartino started out the home half of the seventh inning with a solo homerun that sparked a four run inning which UC held onto the final two innings to win the game.