The Ithaca College baseball team pulled together an 11-run eighth inning to defeat the University of Rochester Yellowjackets 17–12. With the win, the Bombers are now 19–13 on the season while Rochester drops to 11–12.
Rochester started out the game by dominating on offense. After the fourth inning, the game was tied at 4‒4. At the end of the fifth, the Yellowjackets saw themselves up 11–6.
Junior third baseman Jack Herman got things started for Rochester when he scored on a passed ball. Later, in the fifth inning, freshman left fielder Drew Bankovich scored on another passed ball to extend the lead to 6–4.
Freshman designated hitter Steve Pickering singled to left field to score sophomore center fielder Kyle Trombley. On the next play, senior shortstop Tyler Schmidt singled to right field to score junior right fielder Corey Ziring and sophomore second basemen Aaron Craig to make the lead 9–4.
The Yellowjackets capped off the inning when Pickering scored on a wild pitch. After that, Schmidt scored off a fielding error.
In the bottom of the fifth, senior left fielder Domenic Boresta singled down the left field line for the Bombers to score junior center fielder Matt Carey and junior third baseman Cam Fuoti to cut the lead to 11–6.
In the bottom of the eighth, the magic happened for the Blue and Gold as their 10-run inning started.
Junior first basemen Andrew Bailey doubled to left center to score junior second basemen Webb Little. Freshman pinch hitter Garrett Callaghan doubled to right center to score Bailey to cut the lead to 11–8.
With the bases loaded, Carey got hit by a pitch and Callaghan crossed home plate. Right after that, Lynch got hit by a pitch and sophomore pinch runner Marco Fontana scored.
Sophomore pinch hitter Andrew Wollner grounded out to third, but not before Fuoti scored. Boresta then singled to score Carey and Lynch and took the lead for the first time all game 13–11.
The inning continued when Little tripled to right center to score Boresta. Bailey then hit a sacrifice fly to score Little and junior pinch hitter Jake Generali doubled to left field to score junior pinch hitter Garrett Snyder.
To end the inning, Fuoti singled up the middle to score Generali and take a commanding 17–11 lead.
The Yellowjackets tried to make a comeback in the top of the ninth when Pickering doubled to left field to score Craig, but that was the only run Rochester scored in the inning.
Four Bombers had two hits while Little went 3–5 with one RBI. Both Boresta and Bailey finished with four RBIs for the Blue and Gold. The South Hill squad finished the game with 16 hits.
The Bombers are back in action against The College at Brockport for Senior Day at noon April 28 at Freeman Field.
