UTICA, NY - The Utica Baseball team traveled across town to SUNY Poly to finish the season series against the Wildcats. The two teams resumed play from the March 24th contest that was tied going into the eleventh inning, with the Pioneers coming out on top 12-11 before winning the final game by a score of 7-6.
The Pioneers came into the abbreviated game one with a ton of energy, after going scoreless in the top of the eleventh,
Justin Notargiacomo (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) shut down the Wildcat order in 1-2-3 fashion. In the top of the twelfth and second inning of play on the day,
Brendan Berry (Cranford, NJ/Cranford) would launch a go-ahead solo home run to give the Pioneers a 12-11 lead. This then led to Notargiacomo coming back out and finishing the save with a strikeout and a ballistic celebration, giving Utica the win.
Game Two
The second game of the day was another tightly-contested matchup. The Pioneers would score seven runs on nine hits, and that would prove to be enough as Utica would win 7-6. After two sac flies and an RBI single,
Kody Czternastek (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) would come up and rip a 2-RBI double in the gap to propel the Pioneers to an early 6-0 lead. Czternastek would finish his day 1-3 with two walks and two RBIs. But offensively, this game was the
Mike Rockwell (Liverpool, NY/Cicero) show. The senior would finish his day 3-5 with two RBIs and a run scored. Rockwell would hit a single and a triple before blasting a solo homer over the left field fence to give the Pioneers a huge insurance run in the top of the fifth.
On the mound for the Pioneers,
Brady Leichtman (Bay Shore, NY/St. John the Baptist Diocesan) would get the start and the win, going 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits and striking out one, but getting huge outs all day long. He would give the ball to
Dean Ennis (Middle Island, NY/Longwood), who went 1.1 innings, giving up one hit and striking out two, but the story of the day was once again Notargiacomo. After closing out the first game, the Massapequa native would come out of the bullpen again, this time going the remaining 2.1 innings, not giving up a hit or a run, and earning his second save of the day.Â
The Pioneers' record moves to 20-14, and next up for the blue and orange is their final series of the year, as the squad travels to SUNY Brockport to face the Golden Eagles on Friday, May 1st, at 3:00 PM before coming back the next day, Saturday, May 2nd, for two more games at 12:00 and 3:00 PM respectively.
Be sure to keep up with the Utica University Athletics social media pages for any last-minute scheduling changes!
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