Vassar Brewers Baseball Forces Extra Innings

POUGHKEEPSIE – The Vassar baseball team returned home for two more games against Skidmore on Sunday afternoon. The Brewers dropped the first game 8-2, and then fell 9-4 in an extra-innings thriller in the second. Vassar slips to 11-18 overall and 5-12 in the Liberty League, while Skidmore moves to 16-11 and 7-6 in the conference.

Game One – Skidmore 8, Vassar 2
A strong pitching performance from Skidmore’s Spencer Anderson set the tone early in the Thoroughbreds win in the opening game. In five innings, he only gave up five hits and struck out eight Vassar batters. Matt McGannon started for the Brewers, allowing six hits.

Skidmore scored four runs in the first two innings to take an early 4-0 lead. At the bottom of the second, Gunnar Widercrantz sacrifice flied to right field to allow Jesse Mulham to score. Neither side scored again until the fifth inning when Sam Browning singled to left field, bringing in Pat Geiger for the run.

At the top of the sixth, Daniel Bonfiglio singled to left center, which allowed Taylor Smach to score, cutting the score to 5-2. Unfortunately, the Thoroughbreds scored three more times at the top of the seventh.

Game Two – Skidmore 9, Vassar 4
After being down 4-2 in the eighth, the Brewers fought back to tie the game 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth. It took until the 12th inning for a team to score. Skidmore scored five runs at the top of the frame to go up 9-4. The Brewers managed to get two runners on base, but could not pull off the late comeback.

The second game was tightly contested with each side tacking on a run in the first inning. Skidmore got on the board first, and then a sacrifice fly from Taylor Smach drove in Bryan Rubin to tie things 1-1. The Thoroughbreds added another run in the third, but Vassar responded with in the fourth when Smach scored.

Pitching and defense remained strong for both teams in the next four innings, and it was not until the top of the eighth that Skidmore broke the tie. Playing from behind, Jason Salerno line out to the second baseman, but a Skidmore error allowed McGannon to reach third and Widercrantz to make it home. Rubin batted next, recorded a sacrifice fly to get McGannon the run.

Vassar carried some momentum in the 10th, but was unable to score. With the bases loaded, Wildercrantz bunted and Daniel Bonfiglio attempted to run in from third but was tagged out by the catcher. The Brewers kept Skidmore scoreless until the 12th when they drove in five runs.