SUNY Institute of Technology pounded out 30 hits in a non-conference doubleheader sweep over Hamilton College at Hamilton's Royce Field on April 7.
SUNYIT (8-15 overall) won the first game, 11-9, and took the nightcap, 15-4. The Wildcats have won seven straight games.
Hamilton (3-17) dropped its eighth straight game. The Continentals host Cazenovia College for another non-conference doubleheader at DeLutis Field in Rome, N.Y., on Monday, April 9, at 4:30 p.m.
In Game 1, Anthony Ragosta '15 doubled and drove in a pair of runs to lead the Wildcats. Devin Frye '13 collected three hits, and Jhomel Solano '12 added two hits and drove in two runs. Sam Quinn-Loeb '12 finished with two hits, and Chandler Evans '13 and Joseph O'Rourke '15 added doubles. Starting pitcher Daniel Wiecek '13 scattered nine hits and allowed six earned runs over 5.2 innings to earn the win. Wiecek walked seven batters and struck out four.
Sam Choate '12 led the Continentals' offense with three hits, including the 10th home run of his Hamilton career to move into a tie for fourth place on the program's all-time list. Sam Fuentes '13 homered to lead off the third inning and finished with three hits. Colin Henneberger '14 smacked a three-run double, and Gabe Klein '13 walked three times and scored twice. Starting pitcher Alex Pachella '15 surrendered nine earned runs and suffered his first loss.
SUNYIT jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Ragosta's double scored O'Rourke and Quinn-Loeb, and Frye capped the inning with a single to score Ragosta.
Hamilton struck back with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Klein walked and Choate singled, and both scored when Merriman's single bounced past the SUNYIT right fielder.
The Wildcats took a 10-2 lead with five runs in the top of the third inning. Evans led off with a double and came around to score on a double by O'Rourke. A single by Michael Mainello '14 scored O'Rourke, and Solano capped the inning with a two-run single to score Mainello and Frye.
The Continentals scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, and had the tying run on second base with one out. But the reliever Evans got the last two batters to fly out and ground into a fielder's choice, respectively, to seal the victory.
In Game 2, Solano finished with three hits and three runs batted in. Anthony Surber '12 tallied three hits and two runs batted in, and Quinn-Loeb and Evans added two hits apiece. Cody Chambers '14 and Frye each had a hit and drove in a pair of runs. Starting pitcher Jeff Albright '15 scattered eight hits and allowed four earned runs in six innings of work for the win. Albright walked three batters and struck out eight.
Fuentes and Glenn de Marrais '15 paced Hamilton with two hits apiece. John Wulf '12 had an RBI single, and Klein drove in a run. Choate added a hit and moved into third place on the team's all-time list with 121, just three hits behind the leader. Henneberger started on the mound and suffered the loss.
Hamilton took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Wulf led off with a walk and came around to score on a SUNYIT error.
The Wildcats responded with three runs in the top of the second inning and four more in the third to take a 7-1 lead. O'Rourke doubled to lead off the second and Phillip Mascitelli '15 followed with a single. O'Rourke scored on Frye's bunt single, and Mascitelli and Frye came home on Chambers' single.
SUNYIT added one run in the fourth inning, two in the fifth and five in the sixth to take a 15-1 lead. Hamilton plated three runs on a bases-loaded wild pitch and RBI singles by Wulf and Fuentes in the bottom of the sixth inning to close the scoring.
