Vassar Baseball Team Heats Up in Win Over Rivier

Mar 4, 2020

The weather was freezing, but the Vassar baseball team lit up the scoreboard with five Brewers recording a multi-hit game against Rivier on Saturday morning. Photo: C. Stockton

HARTFORD, CT – The weather was freezing, but the Vassar baseball team lit up the scoreboard with five Brewers recording a multi-hit game against Rivier on Saturday morning. Vassar had 15 hits on the day, defeating the Raiders 16-7 to move to 2-0 overall. Rivier, meanwhile, slips to 0-2.

After the Raiders went 1-2-3 in their first at-bat, Vassar poured on five runs in the bottom of the first inning. Junior Jason Salerno topped the lineup and walked. Senior Daniel Bonfiglio then tripled to right-center to bring Salerno in for the score. Senior Matt Martino batted next and knocked a single to left field, allowing Bonfiglio to score. Martino reached third base following a Robert Pinataro double.

First-year Nick Greenhawt hit a sacrifice fly, but Martino was able to reach home to push the score to 3-0. Vassar scored two more times when Brent Shimoda doubled, and Ty Langford sacrifice bunted to bring in Shimoda.

The Raiders went 1-2-3 again in the second inning, with Vassar’s Mitchell Mullock striking out the third batter. Rivier eventually got on the board in the third when Frederick Kazalski singled up the middle to bring in two RBI, and cutting the Brewers lead to 5-2.

The next few innings moved reasonably quickly, and it was not until the bottom of the fifth that Vassar added six more runs. A fielding error by the Raiders’ left fielder allowed Shimoda and Greenhawt to reach home, pushing the lead to five. Junior Tanner Blough singled to bring in senior Conor Levchuck. A sacrifice fly from Bonfiglio brought in Langford for another score and put Blough to third base. Two Brewers stole bases the next play, with Salerno taking second and Blough stealing home for the score. Salerno scored once more for the Brewers after Shimoda singled to right field.

Senior Max Spencer came in to pitch at the top of the sixth, striking out two Rivier batters. At the top of the seventh, Vassar led 11-3. The Raiders scored on a balk but left three on base following the third out. Four more runs were scored when it was the Brewers turn to bat. Junior Cameron Skudin off a Greenhawt sacrifice fly, and then Martino reached home following a wild pitch. Freshman Andrew Kanellis singled to left field in his first at-bat of the day, bringing Greenhawt in for the RBI. Vassar then went up 15-4 when a Blough single gave Shimoda a run.

The Raiders would score twice in the eighth, but Vassar responded with two runs right after. Martino would score off a Greenhawt single, and then freshman Christian Baaki scored his first-career run when Gunnar Widercrantz hit a sacrifice fly. Junior Patrick Fitzgerald closed out the final inning, strikeout the last Rivier batter.

Mullock earned the win after 5.0 innings pitched. He struck out four batters. Shimoda led the team with three hits and also had three runs, two RBI, and one double. Blough had two hits with two RBI and one run, while Martino recorded three runs with two hits. Levchuck and Greenhawt also finished the day with two hits.