CLINTON, NY - The Utica College Baseball team picked up its third victory of the season on Wednesday. In its first meeting against a recently rebooted Cobleskill program, the Pioneers overcame an early 4-0 deficit with five runs in the third inning. Utica then broke a 5-5 tie in the fourth, and the Pioneer bullpen carried the team home to a 6-5 victory over the Fighting Tigers in a game played at Hamilton College.

Utica is now 3-9 on the season and will look to gravitate towards the .500 mark this weekend as they meet the Rochester Institute of Technology in a three-game series. The Pioneers will play a road doubleheader on Saturday, and will host the Tigers on the turf at Hamilton on Sunday.

The Pioneer offense was led by third baseman Tim Quinlan (Monroe, CT/Masuck), who wrote his name once again into the record books on Wednesday. Quinlan was 2-for-5 with two runs scored, including the winning run in the fourth inning. Both of his hits were doubles, giving him the two necessary to set a new Utica College career record for doubles with 35. The previous record of 34 was held by former Pioneer first baseman Nick Dunbar '13. Quinlan now has 135 career hits, and needs just six more hits to set a new program record for career hits.

The Pioneers rapped out six runs on eight hits on the day. Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS), Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame), and Daniel Kuhenle all drove in runs, and Maki Medici (Latham, NY/Shaker), Haydn Demers-St. Hilaire (North Lawrence, NY/St. Lawrence Central), and Nate Palmer (Verona, NY/VVS) each crossed the plate in addition to Quinlan's runs.

On the bump, Sean Morris (Califon, NJ/Voorhee) got the starting call and became increasingly effective after falling into an early 4-0 hole. He held the Tigers to just one additional run beyond the second inning and became the second Pioneer pitcher to strike out nine this season in five innings of work. He allowed five runs on five hits to improve to 2-0 on the season. Local product AJ Farina (Sherrill, NY/VVS) pitched three innings of scoreless relief and allowed just two hits as the Pioneers clinged to their one run lead. Joe Palmieri (West Islip, NY/West Islip) struck out one and faced the minimum in the ninth to nail down his second save of the year.

Cobleskill was led by Oneida, NY native Nate Carinci, who went 2-for-3 in the matchup with a run scored and three RBI. Joseph Ciatto went 3-for-5 with two RBI. Jeremy Jenoure took the loss in relief after being credited with just one run allowed on three hits.   

The Tigers landed the first blow after a scoreless first in the top of the second inning after getting runners on through a walk and a pair of hit batsmen. With the bases loaded, Carinci drove a single to center to plate Frank Leger and Felix Pacheco to put the visitors up by a pair. An errant pickoff moved Carinci and Jacob Hoffee into scoring position, and the lead doubled on a single up the left side by Joseph Ciatto to make it 4-0 in the second.

The Pioneers flirted with the start of a comeback in the bottom of that inning as Matthew Leviton (South River, NJ/South River) earned a free pass and advanced to second, but the Tigers worked around the team's current leader in batting average with an otherwise clean inning.

Progress on the comeback trail quickly came to fruition in the third as the Pioneers grabbed the advantage. It took just two batters to get Utica on the board. Nate Palmer (Verona, NY/VVS) worked his way on with a leadoff walk, and Christian Tiffin (Sherrill, NY/VVS) singled down the left field line to bring his fellow VVS graduate home to get UC its first run. A walk by Maki Medici (Latham, NY/Shaker) set the table for Quinlan to double home Tiffin, and Medici later came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame). Quinlan then scored on a passed ball to tie the game at four. The lead was siezed by the Pioneers on a triumvirate of firsts. Daniel Kuhenle delivered a two base knock for his first NCAA hit, and Haydn Demers-St.Hilaire came around to score his first college run after recording his first college hit earlier in the inning to give the Pioneers a 5-4 lead.

Cobleskill re-tied the game in the fourth as Hoffee scored on a Carinci double to right field, but the Pioneers' man of the hour would score his second run in the bottom of the inning to give Utica the lead for good. After Quinlan belted his record-setting double, Fitzgerald hit into an error by the shortstop to bring the senior infielder across the plate a second time as the Pioneers nabbed a permanent 6-5 lead.

Morris pitched a half inning after the Pioneers took the lead for a strong five-inning effort, then left the balance of the game for Farina and Palmieri to finish. The Utica bullpen tandem delivered under pressure as they combined to allow no runs on two hits with a slim lead. The pair faced just four hitters over the minimum as the Pioneers closed out the victory in their off-campus home opener.

Cobleskill is now 3-9. Utica is due to meet the Fighting Tigers again in a doubleheader on April 22nd in Cobleskill.