Brewers Take Game Win Against Thoroughbreds

POUGHKEEPSIE – The Vassar baseball team downed division leader Skidmore in the first game of a doubleheader 7-6 on Saturday afternoon before falling 2-5 in the second contest. After the series, the Brewers move to 11-15 overall and 3-8 in the Liberty League, while the Thoroughbreds stand at 20-4-1 and 9-2 in the conference.

After a scoreless first two innings, Skidmore got on the board first at the top of the third.

The Thoroughbreds loaded the bases, and then Brendan O’Neill hit into a double play where shortstop Birch Herring-Jackson threw to Ricardo Reyna at first to tag out two runners. Despite that, Jackson Hornung reached home to make it 0-1. Pitcher Cole Eggleston struck out the final batter.

At the bottom of the third, Alex Warren led off with a triple to left-center field. He reached home on a fielders’ choice to tie 1-1. The Brewers added three more runs in the fourth. Reyna hit his first-career home run to right-center to make it 3-1. Herring-Jackson then singled in Warrant to push the lead to three.

In the fifth inning, a home run by junior Andrew Kanellis gave the Brewers a 5-1 advantage. Vassar tacked on one more run in the sixth when Reid Lapekas hit a double to allow Adam Talwalkar to reach home.

Skidmore tied 6-6 in the seventh. William Snyder singled in two runs to make it 6-4, and then a Sean Lang double brought two more runs in for the tie. After two quick outs in the bottom of the seventh, Nick Greenhawt walked, and Daniel Laderman came in to pinch run.

Reyna then hit a single to center field. Warren was the final batter and hit a single to bring Laderman in for the game-winning run.

Eggleston pitched 6.2 innings with 112 total pitches. He gave up four hits, five runs and struck out four batters.

Skidmore took a 0-3 lead in the first inning of the second game. Trey Borque doubled in two runners before scoring on a Max Mello single. Lapekas scored at the bottom of the inning to make it a two-run game.

The Thoroughbreds added another run in the third before two scoreless innings. Vassar cut into the lead when Kanellis tripled to the right-center to bring Ezra Caspi home, but that was the last run the Brewers could manage.

Bryce Grathwohl (1-2) went 4.2 innings with nine hits, four runs, and strikeouts. Ameer Hasan (5-0) pitched 5.2 innings with eight hits, two runs, and four strikeouts.

Vassar is back in action when they travel to face New Paltz on Apr. 20 at 4 p.m.