ITHACA, NY – The Utica College baseball team lost a pair of Empire 8 Conference games at Ithaca College on Saturday. The Pioneers dropped game one 14-1 before falling in game two 8-1. Utica's record moved to 17-14 overall and 7-7 in Empire 8 play and the Pioneers will wrap up the weekend series at Ithaca tomorrow with one contest beginning at 1 p.m.

Ithaca improved to 23-10 overall and 12-3 in conference play after the sweep.

GAME ONE: Ithaca 14, Utica 1
Utica took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a sacrifice fly to center field by Jake Ryan (Kingston, NY/Kingston), scoring Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck). The Pioneers' lead-off batter reached on an infield singled, moved up to second on a failed pick-off and over to third on a groundout.

The Bombers answered in the bottom half of the second with six runs on six hits. Sophomore Sam Little led off with a double and scored on a single from senior Ryan Henchey for the first run of the inning. After a hit by pitch to sophomore Andrew Bailey, junior Domenic Boresta drove in Henchey, and sophomore Matt Carey followed with a single to left to bring in Bailey. Boresta scored the fourth run of the inning on a base hit by from sophomore Webb Little, and then senior Trevor Thompson drove in the final two runs on a double down the left field line to plate senior Josh Savacool and W. Little.

Ithaca added three more runs in the bottom of the third to extend its lead to 9-1. Bailey scored the first run on a sac fly from Carey, and then two runs scored on an infield single by W. Little.

In the bottom of the fourth, S. Little led off with a no-doubter solo home run to right field and then Gallagher drove in a pair on a double to the left-center gap to put Ithaca up, 12-1. Two more runs crossed the plate on consecutive wild pitches to make the score 14-1.

The Bombers finished the opener with 13 hits, including four that went for extra bases. W. Little, S. Little, Henchey and Boresta each had two hits in the win. W. Little also drove in three runs, while Boresta and Bailey each scored three times.

Binder earned his seventh win of the season in six innings of work. Binder gave up just two hits with an unearned run and struck out one in 68 pitches. Freshman Matt Eiel threw a perfect final inning in relief.

Utica's Griffin Baur (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) started the game and went three full innings while striking out one.  Eric Sahagian (Schenectady, NY/Guilderland) came on in relief and allowed just five hits in three innings as he struck out two.

GAME TWO: Ithaca 8, Utica 1
Ithaca struck first in the nightcap with a sac fly off the bat of Carey to give the Bombers a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Bailey scampered home on the play after reaching on a walk.

Utica tied the game up on the first pitch of third inning with a solo homer to left field by Adam Nell ( Vernon, NY/VVS), but the Bombers responded in the bottom half with a run on three hits. W. Little led off with a triple to right and scored shortly after on a single by Thompson.

The Bombers tacked on two more runs in the fourth to take a 4-1 advantage. Carey led off with a double to the gap and Savacool followed with a two-bagger. After a fly out, Thompson drove in Savacool with a single down the line, but was thrown out at second trying to stretch the base hit to a double.

In the bottom of the fifth, Savacool increased Ithaca's lead to 6-1 with a single through the left side that brought home Bailey and Boresta, who both reached on base hits.
Boresta drove in Ithaca's seventh run of the game with a sac fly in the sixth inning, which allowed S. Little to score, and the final run of the contest scored on a double from Thompson in the seventh.

Tom Carrigan (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) went 2-for-3 in game two for Utica, while Ryan Palmer (Verona, NY/VVS) added a 1-for-4 effort at the plate for the Pioneers. Zachary Schellenger (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) also posted one hit for UC.

Jake Cavanagh (Plainville, NY/King Phillip Regional) pitched five innings for the Pioneers and struck out three, while Kolbie Glionna (Hagaman, NY/Amsterdam) came on in relief and allowed just one run in two full innings of work.