Vassar Baseball Swept at RIT in Crossover Series

By Steven Merritt

ROCHESTER – The Vassar College Baseball team fell twice on Saturday afternoon to RIT in the Liberty League Crossover Divisional series with the Tigers taking game one, 8-4, before earning a 4-3 victory in the second game of the doubleheader. RIT advances to the Liberty League Championship Tournament next weekend while the Brewers season concludes at 20-18 overall.

RIT 8 – VAS 4
The Tigers got on the board in the first as Chris Reilly’s RBI groundout plated Randy Dodig to take an early 1-0 lead. Vassar drew even as senior Ezra Caspi scored on a RIT error in the second and then took the lead in the third on Caspi’s RBI double to right center that scored senior Andrew Kanellis.

RIT struck for five runs in the bottom of the third as Charlie Slaymaker scored on a fielder’s choice followed by a RBI single from Reilly to score Dodig. John Bagley scored on a wild pitch before Roberto Reade plated two runs on a single through the right side to take a 6-2 lead.

The Tigers pushed its lead to 8-2 in the fourth as Bagley plated Slaymaker with a RBI single and then Jalin Moses drove a single through the left side to score Dodig for the third time in the game. Vassar cut the lead down to 8-4 in the seventh on a two-RBI single from senior Adam Talwalkar that scored sophomore Birch Herring-Jackson and junior Reid Lapekas.

Senior Ryan Harris took the loss for the Brewers as he went 2.1 innings, allowing three hits, six runs, four walks and struck out one. Senior Frankie Murphy tossed 1.2 scoreless innings in relief and sophomore Pat Kerrigan allowed two runs over 3.1 innings of work.
John Arnold earned the win for RIT as he tossed five innings and gave up three hits, two runs (one earned), two walks and struck out three. Eric Sipling threw two scoreless innings for the Tigers out of the bullpen.

Caspi finished with three hits and a RBI while Talwalkar had two runs batted in for Vassar. Reilly and Reade each recorded two hits and two RBI along with Bagley driving in two runs and Dodig scoring three runs for the Tigers.

RIT 4 – VAS 3
Vassar took an early lead in the second game of the doubleheader as Herring-Jackson knocked in Caspi with a RBI single in the second inning followed by junior Ty Murray scoring on a fielder’s choice to make it 2-0 after two.

RIT scratched out a run in the third on a sacrifice fly from Ian Libby to score Slaymaker before taking a 3-2 lead in the fifth on a RBI single from Bagley and Adam Marsh laced a single to left field to plate Libby.

Vassar tied it at three in the sixth inning as Murray’s sacrifice bunt scored pinch-runner sophomore Jack Story before Bagley gave the Tigers the lead back on a single up the middle to score Slaymaker to go ahead 4-3.

Freshman Addison Lee started for Vassar as he went 4.1 innings, allowing seven hits, three runs, one walk and struck out one. Senior Bryce Grathwohl took the loss in relief as he threw 1.1 innings and gave up five hits, one run and struck out two.

Alex Slotter started on the mound for RIT as he threw five-plus innings and gave up five hits, three runs and struck out 10. Sipling earned the win in relief with one scoreless inning and Peter Bossinas picked up the save with a scoreless seventh inning.

Kanellis, Murray, Herring-Jackson, Caspi and senior Alex Warren each had a hit while three different players drove in a run for Vassar. Bagley had two hits and two RBI for RIT while Slaymaker finished with two hits and three runs scored.