University of Rochester Athletics

ROCHESTER, NY – The ball was flying out of Towers Field on Wednesday afternoon as Rochester and Vassar College combined for 40 runs and nine home runs as the two foes split the Liberty League double-header. UR dominated the first game, launching four long balls on their way to defeat the brewers 20-1. The tables turned for game two as Vassar hit four home runs of their own and defeated the Yellowjackets 14-5.
 
In game one, Rochester was fueled by an 11 run third inning Aiden Finch hit his first home run of two on the day while Tyler Schmidt also hit a long ball down the right field line during the inning. The Yellowjackets nearly went through the entire order twice on their way to a comfortable 14-0 lead after three.
 
After a scoreless fourth from both teams, Rochester tacked on five more in the bottom of the fifth to take a 19-0 lead. A Kyle Trombley 3-run home run did most of the damage while a Corey Ziring double and a Schmidt sacrifice fly also drove in runs.
 
Grant Kilmer added a single in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 20-0 game. Vassar finally was able to get on the board in the top of the seventh when Connor Levchuck doubled to left center field to bring home Robert Pinataro to make it 20-1.
 
Steve Pickering, Schmidt and Ziring all had three hits in game one for the Yellowjackets. Schmidt drove in four runs while Ziring and Drew Bankovich ended with three RBI. Jack Herman was 2-4 with two RBI and four runs scored. Finch had two hits, two RBI and three runs scored. David Reith drove in two and scored one while going 1-5. Luke Meyerson got the win for Rochester, throwing five scoreless innings, striking out six hitters while walking just one.
 
Game two began with a scoreless first from both teams. In the top half of the second inning, the Brewer's bats came alive as they put up nine runs on their way to a 14-5 win in game two. Vassar launched four home runs in the game while Finch added his second of the day for Rochester.
 
After three singles from Jason Salerno and Bryan Rubin and Tanner Blough to put men on for Vassar, Bobby Kinne hit a grand slam to begin the scoring in game two. The very next batter, Elliot Layne came up next and hit a solo shot to center field to add to the Vassar lead. Daniel Bonfiglio tripled a few batters later bringing home Evan Trausch. Salerno then came up again and singled down the left field line to make it a 9-0 game in the top of the second inning.
 
The Brewers added one run in the fifth on a Trausch solo home run over the center field fence that took the UR center fielder Trombley's glove with it.  Vassar then tacked on another in the fifth before Rochester got on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Craig blooped a single to left field and Pickering singled to left field to get on base. Finch then came up to the plate and launched a three-run blast down the left field line to make it an 11-3 game. Trausch hit his second home run of the game in the top of the sixth to extend the Brewer lead.
 
UR was led by the Finch three run home run. Craig was 2-3 in the second half of the double header to drive in one run and score another. Kilmer chipped in a pinch-hit RBI single late in the game.  Will Conroy threw 2.0 innings of work, allowing no earned runs.
 
Vassar was led in game two by Trausch's two home runs. Kinne added five RBI on two hits and also scored a run. Jake Doyle was 2-4 on the day with an RBI and two runs scored. Rubin also added two hits, an RBI and two runs scored. Logan Willans pitched six innings for Vassar while allowing three earned runs and striking out three.
 
UR now hold a 7-11 record (7-3 Liberty League). Rochester will play at Bard College in double-header matchups, both Saturday and Sunday.