ELMIRA, NY—The Elmira Soaring Eagles rallied from a 3-0 deficit, scoring six runs in the sixth inning to defeat the Houghton Highlanders and clinch the series in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Dunn Field, 8-5. The Highlanders responded with a win in the nightcap, 8-4, riding the strong pitching performances of
John Kopicky (Centerville, OH, Centerville) and
Garrett Alread (Victor, NY, Victor).
Game 1:
The Highlanders jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first when
Tage Johnson (Jamestown, NY, Frewsburg) drove an RBI triple to right-center and
Garret Kirkpatrick (York, PA, Central York) singled him home.
Houghton starter
Victor Cavalieri (Rochester, NY, Northstar Christian) cruised through the first three innings, retiring the first nine batters he faced.
With Houghton leading 3-0 in the fourth, Dennis Rudolph spoiled the perfect game, ripping a triple to right-center. Rudolph would later score on a two-out error, and the Soaring Eagles would tack on another unearned run to cut the Houghton lead to a run.
With one out in the sixth, Elmira quickly loaded the bases. A base hit to left plated the tying run. Cavalieri struck out the number nine batter for second out of the inning. With the bases still loaded Houghton opted to bring in
Lucas Cornell (Almond, NY, Alfred-Almond) instead of allowing Cavalieri to face the top of the lineup a fourth time.
Cornell induced a first-pitch ground ball to second that looked to end the inning, but the ball hopped up and hit the second baseman in the chest, allowing the go-ahead run to score and leaving the bases loaded. Another miscue on the next batter and a single by Dylan Bellinger coupled with an outfield error cleared the bases, leaving Elmira with an 8-3 lead.
The Highlanders rallied in the seventh, scoring two runs on an RBI single with
Joseph Gilligan (Ringwood, NJ, Lakeland Regional), but Connor Bawiec struck out the last two Houghton batters to kill the comeback and secure the Soaring Eagles victory.
Despite giving up only one earned run and striking out eight batters through 5.2 innings of work Cavalieri took his third loss of the season.
Kirkpatrick continued to hit the ball hard, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Game 2:
With the game tied at three in the top of the fifth, Houghton opened up the flood gates, pushing four runs across on three hits. Kirkpatrick hit his third double of the series, plating Gilligan. A pair of wild pitches pushed across two more runs before
Timothy Leathersich (Lima, NY, Lima Christian) knocked in the fourth with an RBI single to left.
Houghton tacked on another run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Johnson.
In the sixth Kopicky began to tire, allowing the fourth Soaring Eagles run of the game before Alread came on in relief to close down the rally.
Kopicky picked up his second win of the year, pitching 5.2 innings, striking out five and allowing only five hits and two earned runs.
Alread earned his first save of the year, throwing 3.1 innings of relief, striking out two and allowing only one hit and one walk.
Chris Welch (Denham Springs, LA, Denham Springs) went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a pair of stolen bases. Kirkpatrick and Leathersich each posted two hits apiece for the Highlanders.
Houghton returns to action on Wednesday, April 20 when they host Empire 8 Conference rival St. John Fisher College at 5:00 p.m. at the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex.
