BODNAR PITCHES SAINTS TO SPLIT WITH 9TH-RANKED RPI

April 14: Sophomore Steve Bodnar shut down a potent Rensselaer offense and pitched St. Lawrence University to a 6-2 win in game two of a Liberty League doubleheader, giving the Saints a split with the ninth ranked Red Hawks, who won game one 10-1.

 

SLU, now 11-12 overall and 7-6 in the Liberty League, split its four game series with RPI, 21-3, 10-2 in league play, winning the second game in both doubleheaders.

 

RPI’s Ken Carroll improved to 4-0 on the season with a seven-inning complete game in game one. Carroll allowed five hits, one unearned run and struck out nine. Jim Devine and Dan Feenan drove in three runs each for the Red Hawks in the first game as RPI had a dozen hits in the game.

 

Bodnar, now 2-2 on the season, shut out RPI through five in game two, although the Red Hawks had men on first and second with no one out in both the fourth and fifth, but the Saint pitcher worked out of trouble with a strike out and caught stealing double play in the fourth and got two fly outs and a ground out to escape in the fifth.

 

The Saints built a 6-0 lead through five as Andrew Ford singled, Ryan Duff doubled and Charlie Cannan’s ground out forced in a run in the first, Christian Spicer delivered a bases-loaded two-run single in the third and Spicer had a run-producing double and Joe Shehata a two-run single in the top of the fifth.

 

RPI got two back in the bottom of the sixth when Dan Feenan doubled and Cam Mamigonian hit a two run homer to left, but Bodnar induced three fly balls in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.

 

The Red Hawks jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead against Saint starter Mike Root in game one as Patrick Reardon drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the first and Feenan hit a two-run single in the second.

 

The Saints got one back in the top of the third when Tim Harris reached on an error, went to second on a errant pickoff attempt and scored on Ford’s double.

 

RPI made it 5-1 with two in the bottom of the fourth on a run-scoring single by Dan Valentine and Reardon’s rbi double and then put things away with a five-run fifth. Feenan had a run-producing single and Jim Devine hit a three-run triple in the big inning.

 

Joel Kocan, Spicer, Sam Kelly and Garrett Fitzgerald had hits in addition to Ford’s double in game one.

The Saints will host Hamilton in a single game at 4 p.m. Wednesday while RPI also returns to action Wednesday, hosting Montclair State .

 

SAINTS, RPI SPLIT DOUBLEHEADER

April 13: Seniors Joe Shehata and Charlie Cannan each hit their first career home runs to back a solid six-inning performance by junior pitcher Jeff Graceffo as St. Lawrence University’s baseball team handed Rensselaer its first league loss in game two of a Liberty League doubleheader Sunday afternoon.

 

Senior pitcher Joe Zongol scattered six hits and struck out eight for his fourth win of the season as Rensselaer opened its four-game Liberty League series at St. Lawrence with a 8-2 win on Tom Fay Field on a cold and blustery afternoon.

 

RPI is now 20-2 overall and 9-1 in league play, while the Saints are 10-11 and 6-5 in the Liberty League heading into Monday’s second set of games.

 

Zongol improved to 4-1 on the year, allowing two unearned runs, and the Red Hawks won their 20 th and remained perfect in the Liberty League with the first-game win. Sean Wilkes, Jim Devine, Dan Valentine and Ken Carroll all had two hits each in the game and combined for seven runs driven in.

 

RPI opened the scoring in the top of the first as Wilkes singled and was driven in on a single by Valentine. The Saints came back with two in the bottom of the second to take a 2-1 lead as catcher Rob Tole, who had two of the Saints’ six hits, singled in both runs.

 

The Red Hawks put the game away with seven runs in the top of the fifth against Saint starter Troy Lassial. Wilkes singled in two runs, Devine had a run-scoring triple and Carroll singled in two in the big inning.

 

In game two, the Saints took a 1-0 lead when Shehata hit RPI senior starter Tim Klein’s second pitch of the inning out of the park in the bottom of the third.

 

RPI came right back with two in the top of the fourth as Patrick Reardon hit his third homer of the year on Graceffo’s first pitch of the inning and Ken Carroll tripled and scored on Matt Muscatiello’s single.

 

The Saints tied it in the bottom of the fourth when Cannan hit his first collegiate homer with two out in the inning, but RPI went back in front in the top of the fifth on Dan Valentine’s single and a run-scoring hit by Camden Marmigonian.

 

SLU took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth with a walk, a misplayed sacrifice bunt, a sacrifice fly by Tim Harris and a single by Christian Spicer.

 

Graceffo pitched through the sixth and Chris Cook shut the Red Hawks down the rest of the way, allowing two hits in the final three innings for his first collegiate save. Andrew Novick pitched two innings of scoreless relief for RPI.

 

 

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