ENDWELL, NY – The Utica College baseball team dropped a pair of games in an Empire 8 doubleheader against Ithaca College on Sunday at Maine Endwell High School.  The Pioneers battled but fell just short, 4-2, in game one and the Bombers cruised to an 11-2 victory in the night cap.  

UC's Matthew Leviton (South River, NJ/South River) went 2-for-6 on the day with one run scored and one RBI, while Christopher Ramsundar (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) was 3-for-6 at the dish with two runs scored.  Shortstop Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS) finished the day with two hits, one run scored and a walk. Griffin Baur (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills) had another strong outing on the mound as he started game one and pitched 5.0 innings and struck out four in a 4-2 loss.  

Ithaca 4, Utica 2 – Game One

The Pioneers rallied with two runs in the seventh inning but the comeback bid fell short as the Bombers' early 4-0 lead proved to be enough in the 4-2 game one victory.  Trailing 4-0, the Pioneer rally began with an RBI single from the bat of Maki Medici (Latham, NY/Shaker), scoring Leviton, to make the score 4-1.  Nate Palmer (Verona, NY/VVS) then grounded out to second base in the following at-bat, scoring Christopher Ramsundar (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) from third base, to account for the Pioneers final run of the contest. 

Baur was relieved by Jake Cavanagh (Plainville, NY/King Phillip Regional) in the fifth inning after surrendering four runs on eight hits.  Cavanagh came on and allowed just one hit and held the Bombers scoreless in 1.0 inning of work for the Pioneers. 

Ramsundar went 2-for-3 in game one, while Leviton went 1-for-2 with a run scored.  Palmer, Medici and Tiffin each added one hit in game one. 

Ithaca 11, Utica 2 – Game Two Final

Ithaca jumped out to an early 3-0 lead courtesy of a three-run homer in the first inning and the Bombers never looked back on their way to an 11-2 game two victory.  Kiernan Briggs (Fort Plain, NY/Fort Plain) and Matthew Leviton (South River, NJ/South River) produced the two RBI's for Utica in the night cap.  Briggs singled through the left side in the fifth inning to score Josh Brickman (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool ), while Leviton doubled down the right field line in the sixth inning to score Tiffin. 

Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck) went 1-for-4 in game two, while Brickman and Ramsundar each added a hit. Jonathan Hardy (Clinton, NY/Clinton) got the nod on the mound for Utica and struck out three in 3.1 innings of work.  Brendon Sarnowski (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) put together a solid relief appearance as he allowed just two hits and struck out one in 2.2 innings of work.  Justin McKenna (Pittsburgh, PA/Plum Senior HS) closed out the game for UC and allowed just two hits and also struck out one in 2.0 innings of relief. 

The Pioneers return to the diamond on Wednesday when they travel to SUNY Cobleskill to take on the Fighting Tigers at 4 p.m.