Baseball Fall on the Road to RPI

TROY, N.Y. – The MCLA Baseball team returned from their annual spring break road trip this afternoon with a game at Robison Field against the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers. RPI were less than hospitable hosts with seven Engineer pitchers combining to limit the Trailblazers to one run on six hits, while their own hitters supported them with three homeruns.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2025
• Score: MCLA 1, RPI 29
• Records: MCLA Trailblazers 2-9 (MASCAC 0-0) | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers 11-6 (Liberty 3-0)
• Series History: RPI leads the all-time series 22-10, including a 5-2 win by the Engineers the last time the teams met on March 20, 2024, in Troy. MCLA won the teams' first-ever meeting by a score of 13-9 in Troy.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• An RBI double in the bottom of the first by RPI's Ayush Krishnappa provided the Engineers with an early but fleeting lead because in the top of the second MCLA responded to even the game at one all.
• Junior third baseman Chris Vargas (Queens Village, NY) started the rally when he legged out an infield single. Sophomore outfielder Joe Sardo (Great Neck, NY) then followed by lofting a 3-1 pitch into the right-centerfield gap that moved Vargas to third. Senior second baseman William Walsh (Maynard, MA) then brought him home with a productive groundout to the shortstop.
• The positives would end there for the Trailblazers because RPI scored four runs in the bottom of the frame, and proceeded to score runs in six of the next seven innings and put up crooked numbers in five of them. The big blows would be seven run barrages in the fourth and sixth innings.
• The Engineers knocked out ten extra base hits, including home runs from Ian Oehlschlaeger , Owen Burnsworth , Julian Scarpa as part of a 29 hit attack.
• MCLA's sophomore outfielder TJ Platt finished the day 2-2, including a seventh inning double.
• Dutch Hamilton was the second of seven RPI pitchers and picked up the win to even his record at 2-2 after allowing only a walk in a scoreless inning of relief.
• The Trailblazers got clean innings from freshman pitcher Caden Bushey (Essex Junction, VT) and senior Elyjah Garneau (Pawtucket, RI).

UP NEXT:

On Friday, MCLA will be back in action when it travels to Rockwood Park and Worcester State University for a MASCAC matchup with the Lancers. The first pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.

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