Brewers Sweep Bard in a Doubleheader

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON – The Vassar baseball team snapped a six-game skid on Friday afternoon, defeating Bard in a pair of games at Honey Field. The Brewers pick up their first Liberty League wins of the season and move to 3-7 overall and 2-4 in the conference. Bard falls to 2-6 overall with a 1-3 mark in the league.

Game one saw a strong pitching performance from senior Patrick Fitzgerald (2-1), who went 6.0 innings with 115 total pitches. He struck out nine batters. Sophomore Cole Eggleston pitched the final inning and earned the save.

Vassar got on the board at the top of the first when sophomore Nick Greenhawt doubled to the right-center to give fellow sophomore Ezra Caspi the run. The Raptors responded right away at their turn to bat. Jordan Myers grounded out to the second base, but Joe Barcia had enough time to reach home. Fitzgerald struck out the next batter to keep it tied 1-1.

The Brewers batters struggled the next two innings, going 1-2-3 in both attempts. At the bottom of the third, a failed pickoff attempt allowed Myers to score and give the Raptors a 2-1 lead. Vassar regained some composure, though, with Fitzgerald picking off Jared Toby at first base and then striking out the next batter to end the inning.

Vassar picked up two quick outs in the fifth innings with only Jason Salerno left on second base. Caspi intentionally walked, and then Greenhawt launched a home run to center field to give the Brewers a 5-2 advantage. Bard added one more run but could not find a home after that.

In game two, Bard went ahead 1-0 after the first inning. Vassar used a four-run second inning comprised of a Gunnar Widercrantz double, a Jaden Millstein triple, and an Alex Warren single as a response. IN Bard’s turn to bat, the Raptors made it a two-score, bringing in a single run.

Another four-run inning at the top of the third brought the Brewers’ lead to 8-2. Andrew Kanellis tripled to bring Greenhawt home, and he scored himself following a wild pitch.

Millstein capped off the inning with his first-career home run. Bard scored twice in the fourth, but Vassar bounced back again with four more runs to push it to 12-4.

The Raptors slowly began to come back in the eighth, cutting the Vassar lead to 13-8, but Caspi sealed the game by blasting a home run to the right-center in the ninth inning.

Bryce Grathwohl (1-1) earned his first win of the season and went 6.0 innings with six strikeouts. Warren finished the game with four hits, two RBI, and one run. Millstein added three hits, while Reid Lapekas, Caspi, and Kanellis each had two.

For the Raptors, Andrew Love went 6.0 innings, and Bryan Reed (2-1) pitched 3.0 innings.