UTICA, NY - The Utica University baseball team begins its final stretch of regular season action this week with six of its final 10 games scheduled. The team will travel to face SUNY Poly at 4 p.m. on Wednesday before heading to SUNY Cobleskill for a 4 p.m. game on Thursday. The Pioneers will then head to Elmira for a three-game series starting with a pair on Sunday before traveling to Houghton on April 29 for a makeup game against Houghton. 
 
Follow Along: Cobleskill will have live video through https://team1sports.com/sunycobleskill/ and live stats at https://fightingtigers.cobleskill.edu/sidearmstats/baseball/summary. Elmira will provide live video and stats through https://portal.stretchinternet.com/elmira/ while Houghton will do so via https://portal.stretchinternet.com/houghton/. 
 
Last Time Out: The Utica University baseball team showed out in their 11-2 win over Vassar College on Sunday afternoon. Frederick Callo Jr. (Milton, NY/Marlboro) picked up his first win of the season while striking out eight batters. Jack Scanlon (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute) led Utica's offense with three hits, two runs and two RBI's. Jason Story (Hilton, NY/Hilton), Josh Duval (Utica, NY/Proctor) and Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) each had a day churning out a trio of hits. Crossley, Duval, and John Longeretta (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany) each scored twice. Callo Jr. had a dominant day on the bump, pitching seven innings, allowing two runs, both earned, on seven hits, one walk and striking out eight batters to earn his first win of the season. In the top of the 2nd inning, Callo Jr. pitched a 1-2-3 inning, getting the middle half of the Brewers lineup out. Utica and Vassar would head into the third inning scoreless. The Brewers struck first in the bottom of the 5th on a J. Bergman single, scoring Barrientos as Vassar jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Utica would answer right back on a Dom Fasolo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) sacrifice fly, scoring Longeretta and advancing Crossley to third base to tie the game at one run apiece. Following that Utica would keep its foot on the gas as Scanlon singled, driving in Crossley to make it a 2-1 Pioneer advantage in the 6th. Vassar responded in the bottom of the 6th on a sacrifice fly, driving in one run and tying the game at two. Utica's bats started to get hot in the top frame of the 7th inning as Andrew Salbinski (Essex, CT/Valley Regional)) doubled to right field, collecting two RBI's, scoring Crossley and Longeretta. Scanlon registered another hit, driving in Salbinski to give Utica a 7-2 lead. Duval continued to get on base as he singled to left center, advancing Scalfani to second and scoring Scanlon as the Pioneers would increase their lead to 8-2. The damage wasn't done as Story singled, driving in Duval and Scalfani to make it 10-2 in the 7th. The Pioneers added an insurance run in the 9th as Jacob Scalise (Utica, NY/Whitesboro) grounded out to plate Scanlon and make it an 11-2 game which would stand as the game's final score.
 
Where we Stand: Utica sits in sixth place in the Empire 8 standings with a 4-7 record in conference play. The team has one more game to play against Houghton with two more three-game series against Elmira and Keuka. This weekend's series against Elmira is critical for the team as they are currently fighting with the Soaring Eagles for a spot in the Empire 8 Tournament. Taking two out of three would put the Pioneers in a good spot going into their final four conference games. 
 
Heating Up: Graduate students Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) and John Longeretta (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany) are heating up at the right time as the team comes to a crucial part of the season. Crossley has tallied one or more hits in nine of his last 11 games while posting a .368 average with 14 hits across this stretch. He is second on the team in both runs and RBIs with 26 and 23. Across his last 10 games, Longeretta has recorded 13 hits for a .419 batting average and eight RBIs. Both veterans are key middle of the lineup bats and will be called on to produce in big moments as the season goes on. 
 
Callo's Cooking: Frederick Callo Jr. (Milton, NY/Marlboro) earned his first win of the season on Sunday after tossing seven quality innings against Vassar. He allowed just two runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out eight batters over 98 pitches. Of the seven hits Callo allowed, just two of them went for extra-bases. The lefty's strong performance propelled the team to a huge victory and gave much needed momentum for this week's span of games. 
 
About Poly: The SUNY Poly Wildcats are 14-13 on the season and are currently on a four-game winning streak. Poly defeated Utica earlier this season 9-5 in a mid-week bout. Ryan Pelton has paced the offense with a .374 batting average and 37 hits. Kurt Johnson and Ethan Merone have also swung the bat well with Johnson hitting .356 through 73 at-bats and Merone posting a .338 through 71 at-bats. Aaron Kifer and Andrew Soule have been the team's top arms. Kefir leads the team in innings pitched with 48 while posting a 4.88 ERA while Soule has a 3.63 ERA through 34.2 innings. 
 
A Look at Cobleskill: The Cobleskill Fighting Tigers are 12-18 thus far but have played really good ball as of late, winning nine of their last 11. Stephen Tejada had been the team's most consistent bat, hitting .372 with a team high 35 hits. David Flora has been solid, hitting .323 with six doubles, a triple and a home run. Samuel Gutierrez has been the team's top slugger, blasting eight home runs, five doubles and a team high 40 RBIs. For the third straight year, Wyatt Palmer leads the pitching staff with an impressive 2.89 ERA through 43.2 innings. Andrew Jarkow has been the team's second option throwing 35 innings with a 6.69 ERA.
 
Scouting Elmira: The Elmira Soaring Eagles have an 11-14 record with a 7-8 slate in conference play. Erik Charnetski has been a huge addition to the team this year after transferring in from St. John Fisher. Charnetski is slashing a terrific .407/.538/.765 so far with a team high seven home runs and 29 RBIs. Brett Warden has been another solid performer, hitting .333 with 26 hits. Jack Finnerty and David Kruis have been the team's top arms. Finnerty has tossed 43.1 innings with a 5.19 ERA while Kruis has accumulated a 5.4 ERA across 28.1 innings. 
 
Round 3 With Houghton: The Houghton Highlanders hold a 12-16 overall record while 6-5 in conference play. Picking up a win against Fisher this past weekend puts Houghton in a nice spot with seven conference games remaining. Chris VanCheri has been a key piece to the team once again as a senior. The catcher is batting .289 with 26 hits and 16 RBIs. Since being converted to an outfielder, Jeremey Wilcox has been very reliable as well, batting .315 with a team high 28 hits and 16 RBIs as well. Ethan Cetton has been fantastic on the mound for the Highlanders. The senior has a 2.52 ERA through 50 innings tossed. Most recently, he shut down St. John Fisher, allowing just one run on five hits through a complete seven innings in the first of Saturday's doubleheader. 

Up Next: Utica and Hamilton will meet on Tuesday, April 30th for the 34th edition of the Jackie Robinson Classic. The game will be played at 7 p.m. from Delutis Field in Rome, NY.