AUBURN, N.Y. -- The Elmira College baseball team traveled to Auburn, New York, to take on St. Lawrence University at Falcon Park, home of the former minor league Auburn Doubledays, where the Saints secured a pair of 14-10 and 6-1 wins.

St. Lawrence 14, Elmira 10
The Saints (6-6) blew the game open in the second and third innings with a combined 13 runs. As it turned out, they would need all of those runs to hold off a late comeback attempt by the Soaring Eagles (3-17).

EC outscored St. Lawrence 10-1 in the final four frames, including a six-spot in the bottom of the sixth. Colin McLaughlin '22, James Delaney '22, and Mason Ryan '22 led off and loaded the bases with a single, hit by pitch, and base on balls, respectively. Jourdan Plaisted '21 plated one with an RBI ground out, followed by a Joe Morrone '22 RBI hit. The next three Elmira batters reached on errors, allowing three more runs to score safely. On McLaughlin's second hit of the inning, Angus Adams '22 trotted home from second to cut the Saints' lead in half, 14-7.

The rally continued with a three-run bottom of the seventh. Myles Littlejohn '24 legged out a triple and earned a pair of RBIs on the three-bagger. He then scored on an Adams ground ball, cutting the deficit to 14-10 with only one out. But that was as close as Elmira would come, as reliever Brett Parker closed the door to preserve the win for the Saints.

St. Lawrence 6, Elmira 1
Despite outhitting St. Lawrence 9-to-6, the Soaring Eagles only manufactured one run in the nightcap. Starter Jack Sylvia led the way for the Saints with the best outing of his collegiate career. The second-year righty scattered seven hits and four walks across 6.0 innings and led all pitchers in the contest with seven strikeouts.

Catcher Cristian Forgione helped his batterymate out of several potential jams, too, gunning down three baserunners in the first five innings. With two Soaring Eagles on base in the third, Forgione caught Morrone at second on a double-steal attempt. In the fifth, Ryan and Morrone each singled with two away, but this time Forgione threw out Ryan at third.

Elmira's only run came in the top of the seventh. After Ryan reached with a base knock, Morrone tripled and drove in Ryan to spoil the shutout bid against relief pitcher Liam Reiner.

News and Notes

• Saturday's games are the first in the all-time series for Elmira against St. Lawrence.
• The Soaring Eagles reached double-digit runs for the third time in 2021 during the opening matchup.
• The nine hits in the nightcap are tied for the third-most in a game this season for Elmira.
• Morrone paced all hitters with a 5-for-6 (.833) effort at the plate.
• Morrone tied for the team lead with three RBIs and added two runs against the Saints.
• Ryan went 3-for-3 in the late game and led all Soaring Eagles with three runs scored in the twin bill.
• Littlejohn (3-for-6) and McLaughlin (3-for-9) each had three hits for the Purple and Gold.
• McLaughlin leads the Purple and Gold with a nine-game hit streak and has reached safely in 10 consecutive games.
• Kyle Tubbs '22 was the only EC pitcher who didn't allow a run on Saturday, as the junior righty struck out one in 2.0 shutout innings.
• David Kruis '23 tossed a team-high 4.0 innings and paced all Elmira arms with four strikeouts in the first bout.

Up Next
It's a short turnaround for the Soaring Eagles, who have less than 24 hours before visiting Alfred State on Sunday, April 18. The first pitch in the non-conference game is set for 3:30 p.m.