The Ithaca College baseball team defeated the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles 8–5 on the Valesente Diamond at Freeman Field on May 2.
The Bombers were led by junior right fielder Colin Shashaty, who went 1 for 3 at the plate with his only hit being a rip up the middle that brought in two, including the game’s winning run. First-year pitcher Jack Colyer pitched five innings, allowing only one run and striking out five.
Colyer started off his day with a strikeout that took the Golden Eagles by notice. Brockport’s batter complained he didn’t have his eyes on the plate and that Colyer’s fast pace wasn’t legal. A similar situation occurred with sophomore pitcher Colin Leyner in an April 7 game against the Rochester Institute of Technology, but both pitchers ended up with the K.
With Brockport disgruntled from the jump, they put that anger to use and recorded two hits, but Colyer forced a fly out to center and logged his second strikeout to get out of the opening inning.
The Bombers were not able to get anyone across the plate in the first, which continued through the second for both teams. Thankfully, the bats came alive for the Bombers in the third.
Sophomore second baseman Riley Brawdy opened the third with a blooper single into left that was followed by a shot to center by junior shortstop Ethan Rothstein, which clanged off the fence and brought Brawdy in to score. Unfortunately, during the next batter, Rothstein was caught by the pitcher sagging off second base and was thrown out. The Bombers exited the third up 1–0.
Coming into the fourth, the Golden Eagles were looking to answer and they did. Brockport junior outfielder Zach Eldred opened the inning with a liner up the middle that went past Colyer and a diving Brawdy for a single. Eldred caught Colyer off guard during the next batter, stealing second and setting up graduate student outfielder Ryan Mansell to bring him in with a grounder single that just made it by third. Colyer struck out the last batter and the inning ended deadlocked.
After Colyer took care of the top of the fifth, the Bombers looked to strike back. After Shashaty was walked, he took advantage of his status on base, stealing second, but the Golden Eagles overthrew second base, allowing Shashaty to make it into third. After Brockport put out two batters, they made another throwing error, this time a passed ball that allowed Shashaty to score and make it 2–1 Bombers.
The Bombers entered the seventh still leading 2–1, but the Golden Eagles were about to make the run they were desiring up to that point. With one out in the top of the seventh, first-year shortstop Nick Mahar grounded a single past a diving Brawdy. One out later and the Golden Eagles capitalized when junior catcher David Belsito sent a blooper into shallow right, scoring Mahar. The Golden Eagles were not content with the tie, immediately breaking it when graduate student outfielder Nicholas Pastore launched a two-run homer over the right field fence to make it 4–2. The Bombers made it out of the inning without any further damage.
The Bombers’ first-year designated hitter Matt Curtis opened the bottom of the seventh with a blooper to shallow left for a single. Senior third baseman Matt Fabian followed this with another single, but the comeback would begin thanks to senior catcher Gil Merod. With two outs and two men on base, Merod sent a grounder to short, but the shortstop stumbled getting to the ball and everyone reached base safely, including Curtis coming in to score. Rothstein followed this with a grounder down the third baseline that made its way to the corner and another man came into score, making it 4–4.
The Bombers took care of the Golden Eagles in the top of the eighth and proceeded to have their best inning of the game. After two singles and a walk, the bases were loaded for Shashaty, who ripped the ball through the middle of the field, bringing in two runners to make it 6–4. First-year second baseman Josh Kaplan found himself in the same situation one batter later and pulled the ball into left, bringing in two more runs. The Bombers left the eighth up 8–4.
Senior pitcher Kyle Lambert was brought in to close the ninth and the Bombers sealed it, ending the game 8–5.
As it was the Bombers’ last regular season game, Shashaty said the team is feeling confident going into their series with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
“We feel good … I think we believe in each other,” Shashaty said. “We feel like we have the most talented team in the Liberty League and I think we need to go out and prove it. Our goal after last year is not just to win the Liberty League, it’s to go further, so we need to make sure we continue to ride the momentum from today.”
The Bombers next head to Troy to play RPI on May 6 in the Liberty League Crossover Series.
