CANTON, NY- The Utica College baseball team split a doubleheader against Empire 8 Conference opponent SUNY Canton on Saturday. Utica won the first game in extra innings 5-4 before falling 9-4 in the second game. Utica is now 7-18 overall with a 5-9 conference record while SUNY Canton is now 10-20 overall with a 4-10 conference record. The two teams return for a nine-inning game Sunday at 12 p.m.
 
Utica 5, SUNY Canton 4-Game One
 
Adam Pexton (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) led the Utica offense with one hit and three RBIs while Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck) had two hits and one RBI. Joshua Webb (Verona, NY/VVS) got the start and went 5.2 innings giving up seven hits and four runs (three earned) and striking out five. Dom Caccioppoli (Circleville, NY/Pine Bush ) pitched the final 2.1 innings only giving up three hits and striking out one.
 
Travis Bigelow would pitch all eight innings for the Kangaroos giving up six hits and five runs (four earned) while striking out six. Seth Douglas and Travis Schindler led the Canton offense. Douglas went 4-for-5 with two RBIs while Schindler went 1-for-2 with two RBIs.
 
Utica opened the scoring in the second when it took a three run lead. SUNY Canton would make it a 3-2 game in the home half of the third inning. The Kangaroos would tie the game with a run in the fifth before taking a one run lead after scoring one run in the sixth. The Pioneers scored a late run in the seventh inning to force extra innings and only needed a run in the eighth inning to seal the comeback victory.
 
SUNY Canton 9, Utica 4-Game Two
 
JT Ross (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) led the team with one hit and two RBIs while Jake Ryan (Kingston, NY/Kingston) and Kolbie Glionna (Hagaman, NY/Amsterdam) each had one RBI. Ed Zakrzewski (Rome, NY/Rome Catholic) started for Utica and pitched six innings giving up 12 hits and seven runs (five earned). Josh Luczak (Ava, NY/RFA) came in in relief and pitched two innings giving up three hits and two earned runs.
 
Seth Douglas led the Kangaroos offense with two hits, four RBIs, and one run scored. Tom Brusca got the start for SUNY Canton and pitched eight innings allowing six hits, two earned runs, and five walks while striking out 11. Matt Hall pitched the final inning allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out two.
 
SUNY Canton started the scoring in the first inning taking a quick 1-0 lead. In the second inning the Kangaroos unloaded for five runs to take a 6-0 lead. Canton added another run in the third inning to take a commanding 7-0 lead. Utica got on the board in the seventh inning with two runs to cut the lead to 7-2. The Kangaroos responded with a two run inning of their own in the eighth to take a 9-2 lead. The Pioneers would attempt to rally in the ninth inning putting two runs across the plate off of four hits but would fall short.