ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College baseball team found two very different ways to win games Sunday afternoon, topping SUNY Poly, 7-6 in the first contest, thanks to a walk-off walk in extra innings and 13-5 in the second, because of a program record 10-run fifth inning offensive explosion.
The two wins propelled the Raptors to a .500 record at 5-5 on the season, while extending their winning streak to four straight. The Wildcats of SUNY Poly meanwhile, fell to 1-12.
In Game One of the day, Bard secured its victory thanks to the rare walk-off walk in the eight inning, when
Rory Maglich took ball four on a 3-1 count with the bases loaded. However, before that, the Raptors had to rally to force extra innings.
Earlier in the contest, Bard jumped out to a 3-1 lead, before the Wildcats rallied in the middle innings.
A run in the fourth and four runs in the fifth put Poly up, 6-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth, before Bard got two back in the frame to make it a one run contest after five full innings.
After a scoreless sixth and a scoreless top half of the seventh, Bard was down to their final three outs to tie up the contest to force extra innings.
The Raptors opened with a single from
David Schlosser, who advanced to second on a throwing error. Two hitters later,
Adam Carafotes doubled in Schlosser to tie the game at 6-6.
After the Wildcats failed to do anything in the top of the eight, Bard used two walks and a hit batter to load the bases in the bottom half. Maglich showed extreme patience in the game-winning at-bat, taking the first three pitches for balls.
Poly's pitcher, Drew Scharra (Springville, NY) threw a strike on the fourth pitch to make the count, 3-1, but couldn't find the command again on the fifth, allowing Bard to literally walk off with the win.
Reliever
Alex Bunnell picked up his third win of the season for the Raptors, while Scharra finished with the loss.
Matt Lasky went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in the first game, while Schlosser finished 2-for-3 with a double, four runs and two walks.
In Game Two, the rain began to pick up, but it couldn't dampen the Raptors' resolve, as they rallied for the second time on the day to grab the win.
Following an early game offensive explosion from SUNY Poly, which saw them score all five of their runs in the first two innings, Bard responded by scoring the final 13 runs of the game.
The final 10 runs came during the fifth inning, as the Raptors tied a program record for runs in an inning. The team first hit that mark back in May 2015 against Skidmore College.
Even more stunning than scoring 10 runs in an inning, is how it happened, as all 10 runs came with Bard already having two outs.
Bard began the inning with a single, before the runner got caught stealing and a fly out gave them two quick outs.
But from there, the Wildcats crumbled and the Raptors soared.
Bard scored the 10 runs on five singles and a triple, as the visitors just couldn't find the last out.
SUNY Poly faced 12 batters before Maglich finally grounded out to end the frame, but by then the momentum had shifted so much, the game was virtually already over.
Starting pitcher,
Frank Ortega was credited with the win in the game, as he went five innings and gave up just three earned runs. Dylan Jones (Brookfield, NY) received the loss for the Wildcats.
Dillon Daine and
Preston Gittelson each finished with three RBIs in the game, while Carafotes finished 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs, two walks and a run.
The Raptors will be back in action again on March 29th, as the team hosts New Paltz for a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. and you can follow those games right here.
