WINTER HAVEN, FL- The SUNYIT Men's Baseball team (1-3, 0-0 NEAC) came up empty Monday afternoon as they dropped both games in a double header with Fitchburg St. 14-5, and 7-3.
In game one the Wildcats were able to jump out to a 2-1 first inning lead as the bats seamed to come alive. Despite several opportunities however the Wildcats were unable to push across another run until the 5th inning. The game remained close and going into the 5th inning and with a 2 run top to the 6th, just two runs separated the Wildcats from the Falcons as momentum slowly shifted. Fitchburg had the answer however, exploding for 7 runs in the sixth inning and putting the game out of reach.
Sawyer Haney (Cooperstown, N.Y./ Cooperstown) took the loss for the Wildcats despite putting in 4 1/3 innings of solid work on the mound.
The start of game two had all the makings of an offensive shoot out as the teams erupted for a combined 7 run first inning. Fitchburg tacked on 3 more runs in the top of the second and then the bats went silent. The next 5 innings was a pitching duel between the Falcons Javier Lozada and the Wildcats Duke Schneider (Clinton, N.Y./ Clinton). Schneider came in relief and threw 5 scoreless innings, striking out one, while only allowing 3 hits. Unfortunately the Wildcats were unable to push across any more runs as they fell by the score of 7-3. Cody Crego (Holland Patent, N.Y./ Holland Patent) took the loss in game two.
The Wildcats were led in the game by Kevin Rowlands (New York Mills, N.Y./ Notre Dame) at the plate who went 3 for 4 with an RBI and Connor Passalacqua (Whitestown, N.Y./ Whitesboro) who went 2 for 3 and also drove in a run.
The Wildcats are back in action tomorrow as they play Gordon in a 9 inning showdown at 9:15 am.