ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - Leading 7-4 with one out and the bases empty in the top of the ninth inning, the Bard College baseball team was poised to break its five-game losing streak with a win over Vassar in a non-league game on Wednesday afternoon.
But Vassar pushed four runs across against three Bard pitchers, and the Brewers came away with an 8-7 victory. The silver lining, if there is one for the Raptors, is that it didn't count in the Liberty League standings.
The game had started so well for Bard.
Alec Montecalvo hit three-run homer, and
Quinn McInerney hit an RBI single, and Bard led 4-0 after one inning. When
Adam Carafotes homered in the bottom of fifth, Bard led 5-1.
Vassar (6-8) started to show some life in the sixth. A bases-loaded walk, and back to back run-scoring singles by Nick Johnson (San Francisco, CA) and Eric Strickland (Round Rock, TX) cut Bard's lead to 5-4.
David Schlosser made it 6-4 with an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth, and an unearned run gave Bard a 7-4 lead going into the eighth. It stayed that way until the top of the ninth, and with one out, everything unraveled.
A single, a walk and a hit batsman loaded the bases. After a pitching change, a bases-loaded walk made it 7-5. After another pitching change, another bases-loaded walk made it 7-6. Johnson singled to tie it, and Strickland produced an RBI groundout. It was 8-7.
Matt Lasky singled to start off the bottom of the ninth, and with one out, pinch-runner
Julian Gonzalez stole second. But Robert Winkelmann (Wappingers Falls, NY) struck out
Preston Gittelson and induced a popup from McInerney, and the game was over.
Reliever Derek DeMild (Peabody, MA) got the win, giving up two runs over four innings. Winkelmann got the save. Johnson went 4-for-6 with two RBI.
The Raptors used eight pitchers. Freshman
Michael Uhle got the loss as part of the ill-fated ninth. Lasky went 3-for-5; Carafotes, Montecalvo and Gittelson had two hits apiece.
Up next for Bard is a Liberty League doubleheader with RPI at Honey Field on Saturday. Follow both games live right here.