The Bard baseball team's late surge in the top of the seventh inning was not enough to take down the Thoroughbreds who prevailed, 16-9, in their conference opener at Skidmore on a snowy Friday afternoon at David Alexander Castle Diamond at Ingram Park.

Bard (4-6, 0-1 Liberty League) struggled to get their offense going early as there were only two Raptors, Mike Lynch and Xavier Webb, with hits in the first five innings. In the top of the seventh, the Raptors needed to score at least five runs to stop the risk of being run ruled, and succeeded by scoring seven. Bard started the inning by drawing four consecutive walks, followed by an RBI single by Jimmy Famularo to make it 15-4. An RBI double by Sam Dumper, a fielding error by Skidmore, and an RBI double by Michael Kurlan made it 15-8.

In the top of eighth inning, the Raptors added another run off a Skidmore error to make it 15-9, but the Thoroughbreds followed up by adding an insurance run to make it 16-9.

Six Raptors had at least one hit in the match up with first year Webb leading the team with two. Five Raptors had at least one RBI with Michael Kurlan leading the team with two RBI. Five Raptors drew a walk including Gavin Gonzalez who reached base twice being hit by a pitch and by drawing a walk. 

Kane Morgan started on the mound for the Raptors and threw 2.1 innings. Graham Benway and Luke Langford both came out of the bullpen with Benway throwing 1.2 innings and Langford throwing 4.0 innings. Langford allowed just three hits and had three strikeouts. 

Bard will be back at home on Sunday for a doubleheader against Skidmore with a noon start.