The Ithaca College baseball team opened up its Liberty League season with a dominant home series sweep against the St. Lawrence University Saints on March 21-22. The Bombers excelled in both hitting and pitching, propelling them to 18-8, 18-9 and 11-1 victories.
First Game (March 21):
Coming off a five-game skid over spring break and having dropped a game below .500, the Bombers found themselves in a reeling position coming into their first defense of their home field.
Senior pitcher Colin Leyner took the bump for the Bombers and threw five nearly scoreless innings except for a sacrifice fly that brought in a St. Lawrence runner in the top of the fourth. Saints sophomore pitcher David Zuhlsdor was not so fortunate, giving up seven runs in under four innings.
The Bombers’ onslaught of runs began in the bottom of the second inning when graduate student outfielder Andrew McDermott launched a beautiful bomb over the right field fence with the bases loaded to give the Bombers a 5–0 lead. McDermott trotted the bases and jumped up in the air to meet his teammates after crossing home plate to the crowd’s cheers. Senior outfielder Ethan McDonough followed McDermott and immediately launched a ball of his own past the fence to allow the Bombers to finish the inning with a commanding 6–0 lead. McDonough got his own meeting at the plate and another delighted crowd.
McDermott, a transfer from Queens University of Charlotte, had never played on Freeman Field and said hitting a grand slam in his first home game as a Bomber was picture-perfect.
“I’m more happy that we won,” McDermott said. “That’s more important after the skid that we had been on, but it just couldn’t have been a better feeling.”
The Bombers continued their dominance in the bottom of the fourth, where the team scored five more runs thanks to an RBI single from sophomore first baseman Camden Laney, a two-run double off the bat of senior catcher Logan Scully and an RBI single from senior first baseman Ryan Laubscher. This gave the Bombers an 11–1 lead, but the Saints did not want to be left in the dust.
The Saints came crawling back to score three runs in the top of the fifth, but the Bombers answered with more runs as Saints senior pitcher John Igoe could not control his pitches and with his erratic throws let the Bombers score three runs on wild pitches.
The Bombers gladly took these easy scoring opportunities as McDonough, Laney and Ethan Daddabbo were all met by cheers from the dugout and crowd as they sprinted into home plate. When Igoe was finally able to find the zone, McDermott got a hold of one and took it to right center for a three-RBI double, leaving Igoe on the mound looking dejected.
The Bombers would allow two more runs and score one of their own in the bottom of the seventh to mercy rule the Saints in seven innings 18–8.
Second Game (March 21):
Junior pitcher Reed Bailey took the mound for the Bombers in the second game of the afternoon. After a ground out to start the inning, Bailey punched out two straight batters with pitches low inside the box. Bailey showed a commanding presence, dictating much of the defense’s success with strikeouts and ground balls during the first two innings.
This could not be said for the Saints, who’s starting pitcher, sophomore Boden Driscoll came out of the gates looking rattled by the Bombers’ lineup. Driscoll opened the first inning with three straight balls and after his second ball, he let a routine throw from the catcher past him.
The series of unfortunate events was just getting started for the Saints. After McDermott walked, he found himself in a pickle after trying to steal second. In the middle of the basepath, McDermott waited for the first baseman to approach him then contorted his body and swerved away from the tag to make it safely back to first.
McDermott’s shifty baserunning presented an opportunity for Laney, who blooped a single that hugged the right-field line and brought in McDermott for the first score on the board. After two more runs, junior second baseman Matt Curtis hit a ripper that curved over the right-fielder’s head and dashed to third base, securing a two-run triple and a 5-0 lead. First-year outfielder Sheldon Jay Walker III almost replicated Laney’s hit and drove in the final run of the inning to end it 6-0.
The second inning presented problems for Bailey as the pitcher struggled to find the consistent pace he had found in the first inning. Bailey gave up a line drive single that gave the Saints their first run in the second inning and walked in a run during the third. The third inning spelled trouble for the Bombers as a sacrifice fly made it 6–3 and another liner up the middle brought in two more runs to make it 6–5. Bailey got out of the jam with a strikeout, his sixth of the day throughout three innings of work.
The bottom of the third put the Bombers back to work, bringing home senior shortstop Riley Brawdy to make it 7-5. The Bombers were not done there because the bottom of the fourth saw the Bombers tack on five more runs, including a deep three-run triple over the centerfielder’s head. Brawdy very nearly got an inside-the-park home run due to the center fielder mishandling the ball but Brawdy held up at third despite the crowd encouraging him to go for it all.
The Bombers continued to tack on runs through the fifth and sixth that made the Saints’ chances of holding on look grim. Nonetheless, the Saints scored two in the fifth and one in the sixth to make it 13-9 Bombers. From then on, the Bombers showed off as the Saints watched their hopes of winning fall into oblivion.
In the top of the seventh, first-year pitcher/first baseman Ethan Fantel subbed in for Laney, and he took his opportunity and ran with it. Fantel saw a liner come straight at him and with no hesitation secured it, running back to first to perform a solo double play. Fantel’s heroics prompted a loud and shocked crowd as the first-year took in encouragement from his teammates, who were going wild in the dugout.
Brawdy added to his total with another RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth and the Bombers emerged victorious 18–9.
McDermott said the wins were big for the team in their attempt to rally from a rough patch.
“The offense clicked really well today after a weekend in Ohio that wasn’t ideal,” McDermott said. “It comes down to having each other’s back, being good with two strikes and changing to team at-bats instead of free swinging.”
Third Game (March 22):
First-year pitcher Ethan Murley took the mound for the Bombers and did not disappoint. Murley stared down his opponents all game as he rocketed pitches by Saints batters with the precision and accuracy of someone who had been pitching at in college for years.
Murley got to work immediately, going three up, three down. A more packed than usual weekend crowd applauded a quick inning of work.
Although the Bombers could not secure any runs in the bottom of the first, they were in good hands on defense with Murley at the helm. He stared down Saints’ junior infielder John Gannon as he lasered a ball to senior shortstop Riley Brawdy. Brawdy leaned to his right to backhand the whizzing ball and executed the throw to first effortlessly for the out. Murley’s next batter struck out swinging. The final pitch of the at-bat sounded like someone hitting a brick wall as it entered the senior catcher Tyler Pugliese’s glove.
Although it did not look like it on the field, Murley said that he came into the game with some jitters before his first start on Freeman Field.
“[I] just trusted my teammates, trusted the lineup and got it done,” Murley said.
While the previous games of the series saw the Bombers immediately put runs on the board, this game would have the Bombers’ bats come alive in the bottom of the second. With two runners on and Pugliese at the plate, Pugliese found a ball he liked and snuck it through the gap between third and short, bringing in Laubscher for the score, as Pugliese was greeted by “Pugs” shouts from his jubilant teammates.
With the bases loaded, McDermott hit one perfectly over a leaping right fielder’s head to bring in all three baserunners and give the Bombers a 4–0 lead.
Up until this point in the season, Murley had only pitched up to four innings in one game. Murley began the fifth inning giving up a single into shallow center and walked another next batter. With two on, Saints’ senior infielder Sean Desjardins hit a chopper to Murley who backtracked as the ball went in and then out of his glove, allowing Desjardins to reach first and the Saints to score their first run.
Now reaching the top of the sixth, Murley seemed more vulnerable, giving up two straight walks. With two runners on and one out Murley had to execute or else the comfortable 7-1 lead the Bombers were enjoying would end. Murley eyed down the batter and got him to ground into a double play. Murley, relieved, put his glove into his face as he stepped off the mound and screamed “Let’s go!”
“The first four or five innings felt really good,” Murley said. “I felt strong, felt like I could power past them with my best stuff. … In the last inning, I had a little bit of fatigue but just had to focus on making every good pitch I could and trusting my fielders to get us home.”
After the Bombers added on three runs in the bottom of the sixth, the seventh would give them the opportunity to put the Saints out of their misery early. With the bases loaded first-year third baseman Max Salerno watched as Saints junior pitcher JJ Humenay threw four straight balls, allowing a runner to come in and the Bombers to go home early with an 11-1 mercy rule victory.
“Baseball is contagious, so one good outing could turn into multiple,” Murley said. “I think that’s really important, continuing to hit well at the plate, trusting everyone.”
The Bombers will travel to St. John Fisher University to face the Cardinals at 3 p.m. March 25 in Rochester, NY.
