HOUGHTON, N.Y. -- The Elmira College baseball team fell in a heartbreaker on Tuesday night, as Houghton College pulled out a 9-8 Empire 8 Conference win in 10 innings at the Highlanders' Kerr-Pegula Stadium.

The Soaring Eagles (3-16, 1-4 E8) led by as many as five runs, but the Highlanders (11-9, 3-6 E8) slowly climbed back and evened the score at 8-all in the eighth. In the bottom of the 10th, EC found itself in a jam, as Kevin Zientara led off with a triple to put the winning run 90 feet away with no outs.

Knowing the Soaring Eagles needed to prevent Zientara from scoring at all costs, head coach Corey Paluga brought in Shane Hake '21 from the outfield for a five-man infield. Taber Carter '21 did his part for the first out, fanning David Wessells on four pitches for out No. 1.

Houghton shortstop Joe Gross then played right into EC's hand with a grounder to his counterpart, Mason Ryan '22, who made a quick throw home as Zientara hustled down the third baseline. Unfortunately for Elmira, backstop Jourdan Plaisted '21 could not make the catch and apply the tag, which likely would have pushed things into an 11th inning.

Elmira drove in runs in each of the first three innings and jumped out to an early 6-1 lead. Plaisted picked up an RBI with a pop-up deep enough to score Colin McLaughlin '22 for the game's first run. The red-hot freshman, Myles Littlejohn '24, then slugged an RBI double before scoring on an error to make it 3-0.

Sac flies off the bats of James Delaney '22 and Joe Morrone '22, plus a run-scoring base hit from Hake widen the gap to 6-1 in the top of the third.

Morrone lifted another sac fly into right field in the seventh, which gave the Soaring Eagles an 8-5 cushion. Houghton's Zach Parr, however, forced extras with a deep fly out of his own that plated Gross for the tying run in the eighth.

News and Notes

• McLaughlin, batting in the lead-off spot, logged a career-high three hits.
• McLaughlin, a junior outfielder from Lebanon, New Jersey, has now reached base successfully in 12 consecutive games.
• Littlejohn, the reigning E8 Rookie of the Week, extended his hit streak to six in a row with a 2-for-3 effort.
• Littlejohn and Plaisted each scored a team-high two runs.
• Plaisted drew a pair of walks, and despite finishing Tuesday's game without a hit, extended his on-base streak to 11-straight contests.
• In a no-decision, EC starter Ray Mineo '22 allowed four runs (two earned) with three strikeouts in 4.0 innings.

Up Next
Wednesday's game against Keuka College has been postponed due to precipitation and cold temperatures in the forecast. Elmira will return to historic Dunn Field on Saturday, April 24, with an Empire 8 doubleheader against St. John Fisher College at 1:00 p.m.