PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – The University of Rochester baseball team scored a whopping 11 unanswered runs to rally from an eight run deficit, pulling off a 16-13 come-from-behind victory over visiting St. John Fisher University on Wednesday afternoon at Towers Field.
Rochester (9-7) trailed 13-5 after the Cardinals (7-10) batted in the fifth inning, but scored three runs in the fifth, four in the seventh and four more in the eighth to post the comeback.
The victory evens the all-time series between the two schools, with each team posting 32 wins in the series which dates back to 1990.
Offensively, Rochester pounded out 19 hits in the win, with
John Moses and
Jackson Reed each smacking four in the game. Moses was 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, a triple, 3 runs and 3 RBI, while Reed finished 4-for-6 with 4 runs, 3 RBI and a pair of home runs.
Eight UR starters finished with a hit, and six ended with multiple RBI's in the contest, as
Colby Cruser,
Robert Constantine,
Jacob Matzat and
Casey Press each drove in two.
On the mound, UR's back end of the bullpen game pitched terrific, holding the Cardinals to just one hit over the final four innings on a day when pitching was at a premium.
Justin Grossman tossed a scoreless sixth inning,
Jason Cobert threw the seventh,
Matt Casiero pitched the eighth and
Mark Aaronson closed out the win in the ninth.
Casiero earned the win, moving to 1-1 on the year, with Aaronson picking up his fourth save.
Reed clubbed two home runs in the game.
After a scoreless first inning, it was eight straight half innings in which at least one run came across the plate. St. John Fisher plated two in the second to grab the early lead. Moses doubled in
Aaron Whitley in the second to cut the deficit in half.
The Cardinals struck for four in the third, with Ben Lavery's mammoth home run to right providing two runs. Rochester got one back when Cruser laced a ground-rule double to right center, scoring Reed.
It was another crooked number for the Cardinals in the fourth, as three Fisher runners crossed the plate, boosting the lead to 9-2. Rochester cut the lead back down to four after Press singled in Matzat and Reed clobbered his first home run of the day, a 2-run shot to center.
A pair of Cardinals extra base hits in the fifth scored four more runs, leading to the eight-run cushion. James Murphy doubled in a run and Brian Norsen added a 3-run bomb to complete the St. John Fisher scoring.
UR's rally continued in the bottom of the frame as Moses tripled to center, scoring Whitley and
Colton Avera. Matzat followed with an RBI ground out to third, scoring Moses, as UR was down 13-8 after five.
Neither team scored in the sixth, but UR's bats heated back up in the seventh. Moses scored on a wild pitch with Constantine at bat, and he came around to score when Press added an RBI to left. Cruser added another RBI with a pop-up that fell in to right field, with another run scoring thanks to a fielding miscue in the outfield, allowing Rochester to pull within one, down 13-12.
The eighth inning saw the Yellowjackets complete the comeback, with Constantine tripling to grab the lead for the first time. Two runs scored on the hit which caromed off the glove of a leaping Noah Pohrte in center field for SJF.
Matzat added a sacrifice fly to score Constantine and Reed added a key insurance run with a solo blast to center.
In the ninth, Whitley made a highlight reel catch to start the frame, robbing Pohrte of extra bases. Aaronson closed out the game, pitching around a two-out walk.
Rochester is now off until Saturday afternoon when they play host to Hobart College in a Liberty League doubleheader at Towers Field.
