AMSTERDAM, NY - The Utica University baseball team dropped both games of its doubleheader against the Russell Sage College Gators on Sunday. Utica fell in game one 11-7 in seven innings before dropping game two 10-3 from Shuttleworth Park. 
 
Game 1: Russell Sage 11, Utica 7 (7 Inn.)
Jason Story (Hilton, NY/Hilton) had quite the game at the dish as the senior went 4-for-4 with two home runs, four RBI and three runs scored. Home homers served as the 10th and 11th of his career, making him the ninth player in program history to have 10 or more career home runs. 
 
Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) and Steve Sclafani (North Massapequa, NY/Farmingdale) had multi-hit games as well while Josh Duval (Utica, NY/Proctor) drove in a pair of runs. 
 
Kooper Knabe (Cortland, NY/Cortland) picked up the loss after two innings allowing six runs on four hits and two walks. Tim Martin (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls Lima) tossed 1.1 innings in relief and allowed three runs on three hits and a walk. Nicholas Greene (Rome, NY/Central Valley Academy) threw a solid 3.2 innings as he allowed two unearned runs on three hits and two walks. 
 
Sage put up two runs in the top of the 1st before the Pioneers responded in the home half. With one out, the Pioneers rattled off five hits in a row to lead to three runs thanks to the likes of Jacob Scalise (Utica, NY/Whitesboro), Jason Story (Hilton, NY/Hilton), John Longeretta (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany), Derek Holmes (Blossvale, NY/Camden) and Josh Duval (Utica, NY/Proctor). Stroy's served as the big blast as he connected for his seventh home run of the season. Duval drove in a run on a single also. 
 
This string of hits and runs drove Sage starter Liam Doyle out of the game as Joe Degroot entered. The transfer pitcher got out of the one-out jam and held Utica scoreless for his first 1.2 innings. 
 
The Gators hung up four runs in their half of the 2nd, much thanks to a three-run home run, while also touching home twice more in the top of the 3rd to lead 8-3. 
 
Story led off the Pioneers' half of the 3rd and went opposite field to the tall left field fence at Shuttleworth for his eighth home run of the season and his second of the game. That was all for Utica in the 3rd while Sage got the run back in the top of the 4th to lead 9-4. 
 
Utica began to chip away some more in the bottom of the 4th. Steve Sclafani (North Massapequa, NY/Farmingdale) doubled home Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) from first base before coming around to score on a Story RBI single to make it a 9-6 contest. 
 
The score remained deadlocked at 9-6 throughout the middle and later innings up until the top of the 7th. The Gators added two insurance runs on a two-out, two-RBI single. Utica got one in the bottom half on a Duval sacrifice fly but that would be all as Sage claimed game one. 
 
Game 2: Russell Sage 10, Utica 3
Utica combined for five hits in the game as Jacob Scalise (Utica, NY/Whitesboro), Josh Duval (Utica, NY/Proctor), Jason Story (Hilton, NY/Hilton), John Longeretta (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany) and Micah Fiorello (Brooktondale, NY/Ithaca) each had one. Story and Fiorello went for extra-bases as Story smashed his ninth home run of the season while Fiorello doubled. 
 
Austin Rhodes (Wappingers Falls, NY/Kennedy Catholic) made the start and was tabbed with the loss after going six innings allowing six runs (four earned) on four hits and four walks. Rhodes also struck out four. Kody Czternastek (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) came in for one inning and gave up two runs on two walks and a hit while Connor Ford (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) tossed the final two innings allowing two runs on three hits with three strikeouts. 
 
The Gators scored early on Rhodes with a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the 1st. Both runs were unearned, however, Utica came back with a run in the bottom of the frame when John Longeretta (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany) singled in Jacob Scalise (Utica, NY/Whitesboro) from third. 
 
Sage added two more in the top of the 3rd thanks to another two-run home run that extended its lead to 4-1. After that home run, Rhodes retired 11 of the next 12 batters he faced with the lone base runner coming on a walk as the game moved into the bottom of the 6th with Utica down by three. 
 
While Rhodes was dealing, the Pioneer offense also struggled as 15 straight batters were set down between the end of the 1st inning and the 6th inning. Utica got its first base runner since the bottom of the 1st when Jason Story (Hilton, NY/Hilton) reached in the bottom of the 6th on a hit by pitch. However, Story was caught stealing to end the frame and move into the 7th. 
 
Rhodes opened the 7th by walking the first two Sage batters before being taken out for righty Kody Czternastek (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro). A hit batter followed by a walk brought in the Gators' fifth run of the game while a single to the next batter scored two more to make it 7-1. Sage scored one more run in the inning to lead 8-1 going into the home half. 
 
The Pioneers got back into the hit column thanks to a leadoff double by Micah Fiorello (Brooktondale, NY/Ithaca) in the bottom of the 8th. However, Fiorello was stranded as the next three Pioneers went down in order as the game moved into the 9th. 
 
Sage tacked on two more runs in the top half thanks to a two-out, two-run home run. Jason Story (Hilton, NY/Hilton) delivered his third home run of the day and ninth of the season in the bottom of the 9th as his two-run homer made it 10-3. 
 
Utica (8-17, 3-7 Empire 8) will host Hamilton College at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16 for the 34th annual Jackie Robinson Classic.