ROCHESTER, N.Y. - It had only been one season of conference play, but last year was a really looooong season for the Bard College baseball team.

Liberty League play included some blowouts, a couple of agonizing tight losses, and one tie with eventual league champ Union. No wins, though. Zero wins, 20 losses, one tie.

It all came to an end on Saturday. Bard split a doubleheader with Rochester - the coaches' preseason pick to win the conference - by gutting out a 4-2 win in the second game. The Raptors put up four runs in the top of the first, then rode the pitching of Alec Montecalvo and Dylan Long to the first Liberty League win in the history of the program.

Montecalvo went 6.2 innings, yielding two runs on four hits, and Long followed with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, striking out four.

"The guys were pumped," after the last out, Bard coach Ed Kahovec said. "There were smiles and some tears ... it got a little emotional. We told them to enjoy it, then get right back at it on Sunday."

The back story here is that Kahovec played at Rochester for four years, then coached at Rochester for four years. Even he had to admit that Bard's first league win coming against Rochester meant something to him.

"It means a little bit," Kahovec acknowledged in his typically understated manner. "A win in the Liberty League is a win, regardless of who it's against, but it is where I played and coached, so it does have a little something in it for me."

Bard jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first in Game 2. JP Fisher walked, and Adam Carafotes reached on an infield single, moving Fisher to third. Montecalvo singled to right to drive in Fisher, and after a popout, David Schlosser doubled down the left field line to make it 2-0. With two outs, Lee Perry drove in a pair with a single to center, and it was 4-0.

Through three innings, Montecalvo had yielded just one hit, and he picked that runner off. He cruised into the sixth, when the YellowJackets managed to get a runner to third with two outs, but Montecalvo struck out Nolan Schultz (Nalrico, FL) looking to end the threat.

He ran into some trouble in the bottom of the seventh. A pair of one-out singles put runners on first and third, and a fielder's choice grounder cut Bard's lead to 4-1. After Montecalvo walked the next batter, Kahovec went to the bullpen to get Long.

"The decision was made Thursday that we were going with Alec and Dylan in the second game, and we were going to live and die with them," Kahovec said. "We figured if Alec could get us five and Dylan four, we'd be good, but Alec gave us much more than expected. And we wanted Dylan out there on the mound when we won the game."

Long walked the first two batters he faced, forcing in a run, and it was 4-2 with two outs. He struck out Josh Ludwig (Victor, NY) looking, and Bard was six outs away.

Long set Rochester down 1-2-3 in the eighth, and in the ninth, he gave up a one-out single but struck out a pair, and the game ended on a fly ball to center field.

"Personally I can not be more proud of (Montecalvo)," Kahovec said. "He's been through so much with this program, and he deserved it today."

Rochester won the first game, 12-4. As in the second game, Bard scored all four runs in one inning - the fifth - on an RBI single by Eswar Vinnakota and a three-run triple by Montecalvo.

"We tend to score in spurts and we've got to figure that out," Kahovec said. "We need to be more consistent."

Fisher and Carafotes each went 2-for-4 in the first game. Schlosser went 4-for-7 in the doubleheader with two doubles and a stolen base.

The Raptors will play two more on Sunday starting at noon. Follow the games live right here via Live Stats.

"We're not satisfied," Kahovec said.