The Ithaca College baseball team hit three home runs and defeated the Alfred State College Pioneers 17–4 April 5 on the Valesente Diamond at Freeman Field.
The Bombers were led by junior left fielder Louis Fabbo and sophomore first baseman Ryan Laubscher, with each recording three hits and bringing in two runs. First-year student pitcher Jack Colyer got the start on the mound, pitching a shutout through six innings of work and striking out 10 to record his second win of the season.
Coming into the game, both teams seemed to be evenly matched, with each of them suffering eight losses up to this point in the season. The Bombers would thoroughly and immediately put hopes of a close game to rest.
After Colyer sat down the first three Pioneers presented to him, including two strikeouts, the Bombers began to get their bats going. To start the bottom of the first, senior center fielder Mike Nauta reached first on a walk, which Fabbo followed with a grounder single between first and second. Graduate student right fielder Garrett Callaghan almost exactly replicated Fabbo’s hit and drove in Nauta to give the Bombers an early 1–0 lead.
The second inning passed with neither team able to reach home, but the Bombers were just getting started. Sophomore shortstop Connor Pedersen opened the bottom of the third with a liner over the third baseman’s head for a double. Nauta followed with a single and, after an out, Callaghan hit a liner up the middle that brought Nauta in to make the score 2–0. A sacrifice fly from the bat of first-year designated hitter Matt Curtis brought in another run to finish the inning 3–0.
The Pioneers couldn’t manage anything in the fourth and the Bombers began to shut the door. Pederson hit a liner between short and third that brought in Laubscher to make it 4–0. Fabbo followed with a double into deep center that brought in two more runs to make it 6–0.
With no one getting a run for the Pioneers in the fifth, the Bombers began to drive the ball over the fence in the bottom of the inning. Curtis began the inning with a solo home run that cleared the fence and clanged off the scoreboard in center field. This was Curtis’ first collegiate home run. One batter later, Laubscher launched a two-run shot over the center field fence to end the inning up 9–0.
Colyer took care of the Pioneers once again in the sixth and the Bombers exploded for six more runs in the bottom half of the inning. Callaghan began the scoring after he singled, but a wild throw to first allowed for Fabbo to come home from second. After four more runs from a combination of singles, doubles, and wild throws, junior left fielder Colin Shashaty, who pinch hit for Fabbo, hit a blooper single into center, bringing in a run and making the score 15–0.
With neither team scoring in the seventh, the Pioneers finally broke their scoring lull when junior second baseman Tyler Petery hit a grounder too short, allowing a run to come home. Sophomore outfielder Joseph Schatz followed it with a blooper into right field that brought home another run and made it 15–2.
Bombers’ sophomore center fielder Collin Feeney single-handedly matched the Pioneers’ newly acquired runs when he launched a two-run homer into center field. This was Feeney’s first home run of his collegiate career, making him the second player in the game to achieve their first home run.
The Pioneers only managed two more runs in the ninth and the game would end 17–4.
Curtis hit his first collegiate home run during the game and expressed how great the moment was.
“It felt really good,” Curtis said. “[Assistant coach Cooper] Belyea told me to hit the first-pitch fastball, so I did.”
Curtis said that the team has been looking to swing more and go for big hits and in the game it finally paid off.
“We’ve been trying to get more aggressive at the plate, swing at a lot of first pitches, and last week we did it, but it didn’t come together,” Curtis said. “You had a feeling it was gonna explode at some point and today it did.”
The Bombers will next host the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers at 3:30 p.m. April 7 at Freeman Field.
