Courtesy of RITAthletics.com
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – RIT Baseball fell, 6-4, to Ithaca on Saturday, eliminating the Tigers from the Liberty League tournament as Ithaca took the conference title for the second straight season. The game was the first of two potential games on Saturday- had the Tigers won, they would have forced a winner-take-all final game in the double-elimination tournament.
The Tigers struck first, as senior left fielder Chris Reilly singled to left with an out in the first, scoring junior shortstop Randy Dodig and graduate student right fielder Ian Libby to make it 2-0. Reilly moved to second on a throw.
Later in the inning, sophomore center fielder Adam Marsh laced one up the middle to score Reilly and extend the lead to 3-0.
Ithaca got on the board in the top of the second, pushing two runs across to narrow RIT’s lead to 3-2.
RIT got one of the runs back in the bottom of the second when junior first baseman John Bagley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 4-2.
The Bombers narrowed the lead back to one on a bases-loaded walk in the third, 4-3.
Ithaca tied it up in the top of the seventh, as Colin Shashaty beat a two-out throw to first, and then Garrett Callaghan beat the throw home to make it 4-4.
Ethan Rothstein hit a two-run home run to left in the eighth to break the tie and give Ithaca their first lead of the game, 6-4.
RIT loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, but Ithaca was able to force a game-ending double play where one runner was called out on a runner’s interference call.
Graduate student Eric Sipling went six innings, allowing three hits and striking out two.
Dodig went 4-for-5 with a run scored.
Bagley went 1-for-2 with two RBI and two hit-by-pitches.
This year is the first time that RIT has finished runner-up in the Liberty League tournament.
RIT’s record of 21-16 is the team’s best since its 2017 conference championship team.
Leave a Reply