ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College baseball team earned a doubleheader split Saturday afternoon, topping Skidmore College, 6-3 in the first game, before losing the second, 8-4.
With the split, the Raptors' record moved to 7-10 overall and 1-3 in the Liberty League. The Thoroughbreeds meanwhile, are now 9-8 and 4-4.
In Game 1, Bard jumped in front early and never looked back. Mike Pizzuto drilled a two-run double down the left field line, before Matt Lasky scored David Schlosser on a sacrifice fly to put the Raptors ahead 3-0.
In the second inning, Schlosser slapped an RBI single, while Jordan Myers scored two batters later on a fielder's choice to push the Bard advantage to 5-0.
In the top of the fourth, Jake Hardy (Briarcliff Manor, NY) hit an RBI single for the guests, but Bard was able to get the run back in the bottom half of the inning, when Rory Maglich stole home on a ball that got away from the catcher.
A couple of nicely executed 6-4-3 double plays in the fifth and sixth innings kept Bard in front 6-1, but Skidmore remained resilient and battled into the seventh.
The Thoroughbreeds scored twice in the top of the frame, but could have had more, as they loaded the bases three separate times in the inning. However, Peter Oberg did enough in relief and earned the save for the Raptors.
Kyle Zigner earned the win for the hosts, following a five-inning outing, in which he allowed just a run on six hits. Spencer Meyer (Carlisle, MA) took the loss for Skidmore after he lasted just 1.2 innings.
Maglich and Schlosser each finished with three hits in the win, while Pizzuto collected three RBIs.
In the second contest, things started exactly the opposite of Game 1. Skidmore scored five runs over the first three innings, while the Raptors only managed one hit through the first four frames.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Raptors were finally able to get some offense cooking, as Esteban Rivera singled home Matt Lasky. After a quick 1-2-3 top of the sixth, Bard opened the bottom part of the inning with Schlosser's second triple in as many days.
Two batters later, Pizzuto doubled him home and the deficit was down to 5-2.
The seventh inning saw the Raptors cut even further into the Skidmore advantage as Maglich was able to triple in a run, but that was as close as Bard got in the game.
Skidmore added two runs in the eighth after an error kept the inning alive, while Bard left the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom half of the frame.
Jay Gamboa (Portland, OR) earned the win for the visitors. He went five innings and allowed just one run on three hits. Andrew Aikins (Rumson, NJ) collected the save.
For Bard, Frank Ortega took his first loss of the season, despite a solid outing. He threw seven innings, struck out five and allowed five runs on 111 pitches.
Schlosser added two more hits in the Game 2 loss, while Skidmore's Pat Geiger (East Brunswick, NJ) went 4-for-4 on the afternoon.
Up next for the Raptors is a midweek non-league contest, as they host Mount Saint Mary College on April 3rd. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 and you can follow it right here.
