TROY, NY – The University of Rochester baseball team opened up Liberty League conference play with a doubleheader sweep over host Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday afternoon at RPI's Robison Field.
Rochester (12-4, 2-0 Liberty League), snapped its three-game losing streak with the wins of 8-3 and 5-4, with the second game needing an extra inning to decide a winner. Rensselaer is 7-7 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
The Yellowjackets jumped ahead in game one with a three-run top of the first inning. With one out, three straight singles from
Colby Cruser,
John Moses and
Matt Cappelletti made it 1-0 UR. After another out,
Joseph Rende clubbed a double to center field and drove in two more runs to give the Yellowjackets the early lead.
Rochester starter
Nolan Sparks faced the minimum over his first two innings. He finished the game with seven strikeouts over six innings, earning his second win of the season. Sparks allowed just five hits and two runs.
Those two runs came in the third inning when RPI's Jake Defayette hit a 2-out, 2-run homer to cut the Engineer deficit to just one.
The score remained 3-2 until the top of the sixth when Rochester again plated three runs, all with two outs, boosting its lead to 6-2.
Brian McKinsey doubled in
Josh Leadem to score on of the runs, with Cruser delivering a 2-run single later in the frame.
Reliever
Thomas Karpishin came in for Rochester and finished off the game with three innings of work. In the seventh, Karpishin yielded a run, but faced only three batters in the eighth and stranded two runners on in the ninth to earn the save. He struck out three.
Rochester's McKinsey and Rende added RBI's in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, providing some insurance.
McKinsey finished game one 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Rende drove in three during his 1-for-4 day. Cruser was 2-for-5 with two RBI while
Aaron Whitley added a 2-for-4 game with a run and two stolen bases.
In game two, the host Engineers plated two runs in the bottom of the seventh and final scheduled inning to force extras. Rochester responded with a sacrifice fly from
Alec Ellison to score the game-winning run in the top of the eighth, while
Aidan Cooney closed the door on the hosts in the bottom of the inning, earning the save.
Rochester grabbed the lead first in the nightcap when Moses drove in Whitley in the top of the third. That started a string of four straight innings in which the Yellowjackets scored a single run.
McKinsey reached on an infield single in the fourth to give UR a 2-0 lead. RPI tied the game up in the bottom half of the fourth, coming on a Hunter Livesey home run and Defayette sacrifice fly, chasing UR starter
Trevor Van Allen.
UR regained the lead in the fifth on a Cappellette sacrifice fly and boosted it to 4-2 in the sixth on an Ellison RBI single.
RPI benefitted from four walks and a single to score two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but UR's
Jake Larson stranded the bases loaded by striking out George Rainer.
Rochester's first two batters in the eight reached via walk. McKinsey laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up and Ellison flied out to center to score Rende, giving UR the 5-4 lead.
The Yellowjackets used four pitchers in the game two win, with each striking out two batters. Van Allen and
Spencer Rojahn each went three frames. Rojahn allowed two hits and no runs in his outing.
Offensively, UR mustered just six hits, all by different players. Rende scored two runs and Ellison drove in two.
The same two teams complete the three-game series on Sunday at noon.
