Utica, NY – The Utica College baseball team jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first five innings, and fended off a late rally by visiting SUNY Oneonta, as the Pioneers earned a 7-4 victory at the Utica College baseball field on Friday afternoon. 

Senior left hander Eric Sahagian (Schenectady, NY/Guilderland) picked up his first victory in the blue and orange as he pitched 4.2 scoreless innings to help the Pioneers improve to 12-10 overall on the season. Freshman pitcher Brendon Sarnowski (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) posted his best relief appearance to date as he ate up 3.1 innings and did not allow an earned run while striking out two.

Each team totaled 14 hits on the afternoon.  Utica was led by a 2-for-3 effort from Adam Nell (Vernon, NY/VVS). Nell also posted two RBIs and one run scored. His RBI single in the fifth gave the Pioneers a 4-0 lead and he also added another RBI single in the seventh to give the Pioneers a commanding 6-1 lead.

Jake Ryan (Kingston, NY/Kingston) went 2-for-4 at the plate and scored on a throwing error in the third inning to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Ryan Palmer (Verona, NY/VVS) went 2-for-4 at the dish, including an RBI double in the eighth to give Utica a 7-1 lead.

Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) had another productive day at the plate as he went 2-for-3 and scored once after an RBI single to left field from Jacob Gaboriault (Colchester, VT/Essex) in the fifth inning. Matthew Leviton (South River, NJ/South River) also registered two hits, including an RBI double in the fourth inning, scoring Nell, to give UC a 3-0 lead.

Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS), Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck) and Tom Carrigan (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) each posted one hit for the Pioneers on the day.

UC posted two runs in the third inning and added three more in the fourth and fifth innings to give the home team an early 5-0 lead. UC tacked on one run in each of the seventh and eighth innings to secure the victory.

Michael Canino (Highland, NY/Highland) closed the door for Utica as he came on in relief in the top of the ninth and struck out one.

Oneonta rallied with three runs in the top of the ninth, including a solo homer by Jonathan Lezette, but the Red Dragon comeback bid fell short as the Pioneers earned the three-run victory. Lezette went 3-for-4 on the day to pace Oneonta.

Vincent Prisco went 4-for-4 for the Red Dragons and scored twice, while Mike Graves went 3-for-4 with one run scored.

James McCarty got the start on the mound for Oneonta and struck out three in 3.0 innings of work.

Utica returns home on Saturday when the Pioneers open up a three game Empire 8 weekend series against St. John Fisher College. Game one on Saturday is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.