UTICA, NY – The Utica College baseball team completed the regular season sweep of Houghton College on Tuesday as the Pioneers finished a suspended game with a walk-off home run by
Jake Ryan (Kingston, NY/Kingston) and rallied for an 11-8 victory in the nightcap to earn two key Empire 8 Conference victories at the Utica College baseball field.
The Pioneers have now won four consecutive games and their record improved to 9-9 overall and 3-2 in Empire 8 Conference play. UC turns right back around and will host SUNY Canton for a doubleheader at home on Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m.
The day started with the continuation of Monday night's thriller that was halted at the start of the 10th inning due to darkness. The Pioneers held Houghton scoreless in the top half of the tenth inning before
Jake Ryan (Kingston, NY/Kingston) hit his first career walk-off home run to left field in the bottom of the tenth to land the Pioneers the 16-15 victory.
Utica 11, Houghton 8
The Pioneers trailed Houghton 7-3 in the fifth inning of the nightcap and rallied following a 30 minute rain delay to score eight runs to earn an 11-8 victory. Freshman right-hander
Jake Cavanagh (Plainville, NY/King Phillip Regional) came on in relief of
Haydn Demers-St. Hilaire (North Lawrence, NY/St. Lawrence Central) and pitched 6.2 innings while striking out six to earn his first collegiate victory.
Eight different players registered at least one RBI in the victory for the Pioneers.
Ben Julian (Wynantskill, NY/Troy) went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, while
Matthew Yozzo (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) came off the bench and posted a 2-for-3 day with two RBIs and one run scored in his collegiate debut.
Jake Ryan (Kingston, NY/Kingston) carried momentum from his walk-off home run in the previous game and posted a 2-for-4 effort with two runs scored.
Tom Carrigan (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) went 2-for-4 with four runs scored and
Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck) went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and one RBI.
UC trailed 7-3 headed into the bottom half of the fifth inning before making its game winning push.
Jacob Gaboriault (Colchester, VT/Essex) got things going with an RBI double to left field to score Julian, making the score 7-4.
Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS) then scored Yozzo on a fielder's choice to cap the fifth inning scoring.
UC took the lead for good in the sixth inning after Julian drove in
JT Ross (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) on a sacrifice fly and Yozzo added a two-RBI single to center field to give Utica an 8-7 advantage that they would not relinquish.
The Pioneers tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh inning to seal the victory.
