HOUGHTON, N.Y. — The Keuka College Baseball team dropped a pair of Empire 8 Conference games at Houghton University on Monday.
Keuka College (3-16, 2-4 Empire 8) lost the opening game 8-4 in 11 innings, the longest game for the Wolves in two years. The Green and Gold then dropped the nightcap 6-4 to the Highlanders.
Houghton University 8 vs. Keuka College 4 – 11 innings
The Highlanders carried a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the third, but the Wolves would tie it up.
Ian Ruhmel led off the inning with a triple to right. He then scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-1.
Tyler Lewandowski followed with a walk. Later with two outs, Lewandowski scored on a double by
RJ Murphy to tie the game.
The Wolves took the lead in the fourth, but Houghton answered back with two runs in the sixth and carried a 4-3 advantage into the bottom of the seventh.
The Wolves had a runner on first with two outs in the seventh. Lewandowski reached on a single to the shortstop to extend the game.
Derek Novicki delivered with a single to right to score pinch runner
JR Radomski to tie the game.
The game extended until the 11th inning. Houghton scored four runs in the top of the inning. The Wolves had a pair of hits in the bottom of the frame but were unable to bring the tying run to the plate as the Wolves dropped game one 8-4 in 11 innings.
Lead Wolf: Alex Evans pinch hit in the seventh and led off with a single. The first-year ended up with two hits in three at-bats and stole a bag.
Houghton University 6 vs. Keuka College 4
Houghton carried the momentum of the extra-inning victory to game two as the Highlanders scored three in the top of the first inning.
Kole Schmerder got one on the board for the Wolves in the second with a solo home run, but the Highlanders answered right back with two more in the third inning.
Matt Vaccaro led off the fourth with a walk and moved his way around the bags. He scored on a groundout by
Donald Nemeth to make it 5-2.
The Wolves got one back in the sixth on a two-out RBI double by Nemeth, but he would be stranded at third as the game went to the seventh with Houghton leading 5-3.
Houghton got an insurance run in the top of the seventh and tried for a second, but
Matt Vaccaro threw out the runner at the plate to keep it 6-3. The Wolves loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the inning. Following a strikeout,
RJ Murphy worked a bases-loaded walk to score a run, but the next batter struck out as Keuka stranded the bases loaded and lost 6-4.
Lead Wolf: Anthony Laurinitis struck out 11 batters in 5.2 innings of work. He now has 114 punchouts in his career, third-best in program history.
Up Next for Keuka College: The Wolves will now prepare for another Empire 8 Conference series. Keuka College will host St. John Fisher University in a three-game conference series this weekend at Kuhl Field. The Wolves will host the Cardinals in a doubleheader on Saturday and then a single game on Sunday.
