The College at Brockport's baseball team picked up a pair of wins in New Jersey on Saturday afternoon, routing Rowan University 11-1 and rallying for a 12-10 victory against Rutgers-Camden.

 

Senior Kyle Smith (Sanborn, NY/Niagara Wheatfield) struck out eight over six effective innings, as the right-hander limited Rowan University to five hits and one unearned run during the first game Saturday.

 

“Kyle gave us a strong start and we expect that kind of start out of him,” said Justin Beach, Brockport's fourth-year head coach.

 

“We came in with some good relief pitching, and it was great for our bats to come alive. We had some good, two-out hits and we got our offense going against a good Rowan team.”

 

Junior Anthony Siracusa (Auburn, NY/Auburn), a junior college transfer from Tompkins-Cortland Community College, went 3-for-5 with two RBI's and a pair of doubles while senior Tom McCormick (Utica, NY/Utica Notre Dame) added two RBI for the Golden Eagles against Rowan.

 

Brockport (1-1) struck first, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning. One day after seeing his 18-game hit streak snapped, senior Max Keado (Troy, NY/Troy Catholic) led off with a single and promptly stole second base. Senior Max Zimmerman (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville North) singled to put runners on first and third before Siracusa made it 1-0 with a double down the left field line. Senior Zach Prentice (Auburn, NY/Auburn) drew a walk to load the bases, and McCormick was hit by a pitch to plate Zimmerman and make it 2-0. An error allowed Siracusa to score Brockport's third run of the inning.

 

Rowan (3-2) pushed across an unearned run in the home half of the inning before Brockport pushed its lead to 5-1 in the top of the third. Siracusa doubled and later scored on an error, and senior Casey Job (Troy, NY/Troy) extended the lead to 5-0 with his RBI single up the middle.

 

The Green and Gold plated two more runs in the fifth, thanks to a two-out rally. Job and sophomore Jake Coleman (Hilton, NY/Hilton) drew consecutive walks before junior Mike DeGregory (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville) had an RBI single that scored Job. Coleman also came home on a throwing error for a 7-0 lead.

 

The Brockport bullpen limited Rowan to just two hits over the final three innings, and the Golden Eagles tacked on four runs in the eighth to finish the scoring. Siracusa, senior Brandon Wroblewski (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena), McCormick and Coleman each had RBI singles during the inning.

 

Facing Rutgers-Camden, Brockport (2-1) fell behind 5-1 and 9-7, but Prentice and McCormick each drove in three runs while Keado and sophomore Mike Weakley (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) each drove in a pair of runs as Brockport scored nine runs in the final three innings.

 

Keado went 3 for 6, Prentice was 3 for 5 and Weakley, McCormick and Coleman each had two hits for the Golden Eagles, who had eight of their nine starters record base hits against the Scarlet Raptors (3-2).

 

“We did the little things very well that helped us score some runs and cash in on Rutgers-Camden's errors and push across runs rather than leave the runs out there,” Beach said. “I told the guys we have to win games in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, and we scored nine runs over the last three innings because we were relentless. We competed today and that's something we're looking for out of our team. We're excited to leave here 2-1, but there's still a lot of baseball to be played.”

 

Coleman earned his first win of the year, pitching two innings of no-hit baseball and allowing only an unearned run.

 

In the third inning, Coleman singled, stole second base and advanced to third on a bunt single from Keado. Coleman scored Brockport's first run after Weakley reached on a fielding error on a ball hit to the shortstop.

 

Rutgers-Camden scored two runs in the home half of the third and added three more in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead before the Brockport offense staged a two-out rally in the fifth.

 

Zimmerman drew a walk and scored on a double from Prentice. Michael Moroni's (Rochester, NY/Irondequoit) single to left-center field plated Prentice as Brockport trailed 5-3.

 

The Green and Gold put four runs on the board in the top of the seventh. A Prentice double scored Weakley, and after Moroni and senior Mike Goldstein (Slingerlands, NY/Guilderland) drew walks to load the bases, McCormick cleared the bases with a three-run double to left-center field that put Brockport up 7-5.

 

Rutgers-Camden answered with four runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 9-7 lead. But the persistent Brockport attack tied it in the top of the eighth, scoring one run on a Prentice RBI single and adding a second run on a throwing error by Rutgers-Camden.

 

The Golden Eagles took the lead for good in the ninth, pushing across three runs. McCormick delivered a one-out single, advanced to second on a Coleman single, and both McCormick and Coleman scored on a Keado triple to left-center. The final Brockport run was scored by Keado on a sacrifice fly from Weakley.