Elmira, NY - The Utica College baseball team took to the road on Wednesday and came back from Elmira with a series split against Elmira College. The Eagles took game one 14-6 while the Pioneers' bats woke up in game two for a 12-4 win in the nine inning game.
Game 1
Elmira came out red-hot in the first inning as they hung seven runs up on the Pioneers before their second go around at the plate. Fielding hurt Utica in the home half of the 1st inning as five of the seven runs that came across were unearned.
While UC saw a flash of offense after Sean Vanegas (Bronx, NY/Mt. St. Michael) doubled home Zac Cronk (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Central Catholic) in the 3rd inning, the Eagles tacked on four more in the bottom half to give themselves an 11-1 lead. Utica pushed across two in the 4th inning on a Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) sacrifice fly and a Cronk RBI single to center however, Elmira added three of their own in the home half to make it a 14-3 game.
The Pioneers added one more run in the fifth and two in the sixth while attempting to come back. However, Elmira finished off UC in the 7th to secure the 14-6 win.
Each of Utica's eight hits in the game came from eight different players while Jack Mutino (Rye Brook, NY/Port Chester) had the best outing on the hill by going two innings allowing no hits or runs while striking out and walking one batter each.
Game 2
The offensive momentum at the end of game one carried over to the second game as Noah Barber (Cortland, NY/Cortland) opened the floodgates with a two run home run to left to get the game started. In the 2nd inning two more Pioneers came across home as Travis Grogan (Middletown, NY/Middletown) reached after an RBI walk by Cronk followed by a Joe Battista (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) sacrifice fly to bring home Michael Muentener (Fairview, NJ/Cliff Side Park).
UC took its 4-0 lead and extended it to 6-0 in the 4th. Battista roped a single to right field which scored Vanegas and an error in center field two batters later brought Battista home.
The Pioneers added three more runs between the 5th and 7th innings to make it a 9-2 game before the 8th inning brought some power. After Jason Story (Hilton, NY/Hilton HS) singled home Battista, John Son (Mellville, NY/Half Hollow Hills) hit a two run blast two batter later to give UC a 12-2 lead. Elmira added two more runs in the bottom half but that would be all as Utica held on for a 12-4 win in game two.
Brendon Sarnowski (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) started the game and hurled four innings in which he allowed one earned run on three hits. Brian Dinnen (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas) picked up his first win of the season as he pitched three innings out of the bullpen allowing one run on two hits. Justin McKenna (Pittsburgh, PA/Plum Senior) and Donovan Felder (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) completed the pitching line for UC by combining to go the final two innings with Mckenna allowing two runs and Felder allowing no runs or hits in his 1.1 innings.
UC (7-6, 1-1 Empire 8) will play home against Houghton on April 9 for a doubleheader. Game one is set to begin at 1 p.m. On April 10 the Pioneers will visit the Highlanders for another doubleheader with game one also set to begin at 1 p.m.
