Ithaca, NY -- Playing in their first Empire 8 Conference game in program history, the Elmira College baseball (0-5, 0-1 E8) team came out on the wrong end of a 13-0 decision against neighboring Ithaca College (3-7, 1-0 E8).
Davis Salzman '18 got the start on the mound for the Soaring Eagles and would toss 5.1 innings, allowing six runs on eight hits.
Mike Ladka '16 and
Nick Sampogna '18 came in for relief duty, combining for 2.2 innings.
Elmira was led at the plate by left fielder
Dennis Rudolph '18, who accounted for two of EC's five hits on the day, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.
Hayden Rothenberg '17,
Mike Burghardt '18, and
Dylan Bellinger '17 were responsible for Elmira's other three hits, all of which were singles, as all three went 1-for-4 from the plate.
The Soaring Eagles had three quality chances to get on the scoreboard this afternoon in the top of the third, sixth, and eighth innings. In the third,
Jordan Marquez '18 reached safely on an error by the Ithaca pitcher with one out. Marquez would steal second before reaching third on a groundout by Rudolph, putting an EC runner in scoring position. However, Elmira's next at-bat would see Rothenberg line one into center field, only to see it caught for the third out of the inning.
Rudolph began the top of the sixth inning with a single down the left field line and would eventually reach third base after a groundout and sacrifice bunt by Elmira's next two batters. Unfortunately, Rudolph would get picked-off at third base, ending the EC scoring threat in the sixth.
In the top of the eighth, Elmira began the inning with back-to-back outs but a walk by Marquez and a single to left field by Rudolph began a mini EC rally. Rothenberg continued the rally with a two-out infield single that left the bases loaded
Jack Thistle '18. Thistle, who entered the game as a pinch hitter, would see four pitches in his at-bat but would strike out on the fourth pitch to end the top half of the inning.
Elmira will be back in action tomorrow as the Soaring Eagles host the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford at 4:30 p.m. at Dunn Field. Tomorrow's game was originally scheduled as an away contest but four inches of snowfall in Bradford, PA forced the location change.
