Vassar 3, Baruch 2 BOX SCORE

Vassar 2, Baruch 1 BOX SCORE

The baseball team lost a pair of close games, including one in extra innings, to Vassar College in a non-conference doubleheader played on Saturday afternoon on the Division I baseball field of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

In the opener, freshman pitcher Jason Valentin (Bronx, N.Y./DeWitt Clinton) pitched a solid game against his opponents from the Liberty League Conference. He threw seven innings (7IP, 3ER, 6H, 3K) and kept the team in the game all afternoon. 

Greg Polius (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Mary’s) provided the offense with a two-run home run in the top of the first inning to score Juan Adorno (Bronx, N.Y./All Hallows) for a quick 2-0 lead.

Vassar pitcher Brian Sciubba (Wantagh, NY/General Douglas MacArthur) overcame the bad start and took control of the rest of the game by allowing just two Baruch hits in the final seven innings.

The home team scored their winning run in the bottom half of the eight inning by loading the bases via an error, single and walk. The winning run came across the plate on a wild pitch for the dramatic 3-2 loss in extra innings.

In the second game, the Bearcats receive another solid pitching performance, this one from David Chestnut (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth). He pitched six innings, allowed two runs and recorded two strikeouts to also keep the Bearcats in contention all afternoon at Marist College.

Vassar scored first in the third inning when David Ringold (Seattle, WA/Ballard) stole home during a double steal for a 1-0 lead, but the visiting Bearcats tied it up in the fourth inning on a Patrick Westrick (Staten Island, N.Y./S.I. Technical) RBI double to score Chestnut for the tie.

Vassar would score their winning run in their bottom half of the sixth inning on an RBI single by Adam Murphy (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood). 

Tyler Bellstrom (Townshend, VT/Leland & Gray Union) earned the victory with a pitching line of six innings, four hits, one run and five strikeouts.