AUBURNDALE, FL - The Utica baseball team crossed the midway mark of their Spring Break trip last night with a matchup against Liberty League rep RIT. The game, which had become an under the lights affair thanks to stormy weather in the area earlier in the day, was relatively silent throughout, with both teams supplying solid pitching for most of the tilt. It was a big sixth inning for RIT that would prove to be the difference though, as the Tigers rallied for eight runs to eventually capture a 10-1 win over the Pioneers.
 
Jordan Henkel (Melville, NY/Walt Whitman) got the call for the Pioneers, recording his first game action of the season as he threw the first five innings. Henkel was tactical for most of his appearance, allowing just one run over the first five frames. The junior managed to sit down six RIT swingers via strikeout during these big innings of work, giving his team a shot to grab the momentum after a Lance Berger (Lindenhurst, NY/Saint Anthony's) score to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth. Some plucky play by the RIT lineup would eventually cause Henkel's exit and shoot the Tigers ahead with their big sixth inning, nonetheless, the Walt Whitman grad looked very serviceable in his first start of the season.
 
Tim Martin (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls Lima) toed the rubber for the final 3.2 innings of the matchup, having a good outing in his own right as he allowed just one earned run over the final stretch of the late-night fight. Martin also logged four K's, showing off some dynamic stuff.
 
On the offensive end, Jacob Scalise (Utica, NY/Whitesboro) picked up a pair of hits for the Pioneers, grabbing a pair of singles in the first and eighth inning respectively to bookend his night in the lineup.
 
The Pioneers will look to parallel their run production from earlier in the trip today when they face off against Emerson College. Game one of that doubleheader is scheduled to start at 10:30, with game two beginning shortly after at an estimated start time of 1:30. Following today's doubleheader, the Pioneers will have one game remaining in the Spring Break slate.