Box Score
Seniors Nick Bunce (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) and Mike Weakley (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and sophomore Brendan Swayne (Seaford, NY/Plainedge) all connected on home runs in the fourth inning for The College at Brockport Baseball team Thursday as the Golden Eagles built a big lead and held on for an 11-10 victory in a non-conference game at RIT.
Brockport (15-13) had an early lead with three runs in the second inning before RIT (9-11) came back with a run in the bottom of the inning and three more in the third for a 4-1 lead. In the fourth, Brockport opened it up with a five-run inning powered by the three home runs. The Tigers chipped away at the lead with single runs in the fifth and seventh innings but Brockport scored twice in the eighth and one more in the top of the ninth for an 11-6 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, RIT scored four times and had runners on first and third before Kyle Montross (Monroe, NY/Monroe-Woodbury) closed out the victory as he induced a foul out to the catcher for the final out of the game.
In the second inning, Dan Hurlimann (Rochester, NY/Hilton) tripled to start the inning but was thrown out at home after Wesley Burghardt (Chittenango, NY/Chittenango) grounded to the infield and reached base on the fielder's choice. Mike Gianni (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) followed with a walk and later with two outs in the inning, Swayne singled to left centerfield scoring Gianni and Burghardt. After Swayne stole second, Jake Coleman (Hilton, NY/Hilton) singled up the middle to score him and give Brockport a 3-0 lead.
After RIT scored its four runs to take the 4-3 lead, Brockport answered back in the fourth with the long ball. Gianni led off the inning with a single and Weakley followed with a two-run shot to left for the first two runs of the inning. Swayne followed with his first career home run as the Golden Eagles went back-to-back. With one out in the inning, Kyle Tracy (Plainview, NY/Bethpage) tripled to right centerfield before Bunce smashed his team-leading fourth homer of the season down the left field line giving the Golden Eagles an 8-4 lead.
RIT was not done and scored single runs in the fifth and seventh innings and trailed 8-6 heading into the eighth inning. Brockport stretched out its lead in the top of the eighth with a pair of runs. Swayne hit a one-out double before Corey Hamula (Elmira, NY/Elmira Southside) tripled to chase him home. Hamula scored two batters later as Bunce lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield.
The tigers went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning and Brockport added an important run in the top of the ninth. Hurlimann walked to start the inning, advanced to second on a ground out and took third on a wild pitch before Gianni hit a sacrifice fly to center giving Brockport the 11-6 advantage.
The first two Tigers were surrendered in the bottom of the ninth but started a rally with two outs. Four consecutive singles scored a pair of runs and a walk loaded the bases. Montross came on for Brockport and gave up a single with two more runs coming in and cutting the lead to 11-10 before the next batter fouled back to the catcher to end the game.
Swayne was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three runs batted in while Coleman, Hurlimann and Tracy each contributed two hits to the Brockport attack. Bunce added three runs batted in and Weakley had a pair of RBI for the Golden Eagles.
