From University of Rochester Athletics
Senior lefthander Josh Schulman tossed a 9-inning complete game shutout to lead the University of Rochester baseball team to a 2-0 victory over Ithaca College on Tuesday evening at Towers Field.
Schulman's shutout was his second of the season and helped Rochester (14-7) win its ninth straight game. Ithaca drops below .500 (7-8) with the loss.
Offensively, it was a struggle for both sides as Rochester managed only four hits, two of which were bunt singles while Ithaca scattered nine hits in the game.
Schulman allowed the nine hits and one walk while striking out five batters. The shutout lowered his ERA to a team leading 2.32 this season as he improves to 3-2 on the year. Ithaca's Andrew Sanders went the distance for the Bombers, throwing 8 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 unearned runs while walking 1 and hitting 1 while striking out 3.
Jake Meyerson was the lone Yellowjacket to have multiple hits, going 2-3 with a run scored. Josh Ludwig and Lance Hamilton each had a single base hit while Nolan Schultz scored the other run for UR.
Ithaca got multi-hit games from Trevor Thompson and Zach Pidgeon who each ended 2-4 on the night.
Rochester was able to manufacture its first run of the game in the third inning. Jake Meyerson led off with a single through the middle. After being bunted to 2nd by Ludwig, Steve Eychner reached on a throwing error putting men on the corners. Sam Slutsky struck out, but Meyerson would scamper home when Brian Munoz's grounder to third was thrown away.
The lead would double in the 6th. Munoz led off with a walk, reaching base safely for the 21st straight game to start the season. He was forced out on a sac bunt attempt by Schultz, putting UR's catcher on at first. Lance Hamilton would then single to right, sending Schultz to third. On the play, Hamilton tried to reach second on the relay to third base, and after the throw was bobbled at 3rd, Sanders, who was backing up tried to nab Hamilton going to second. The Ithaca pitchers throw went sailing into the outfield and allowed UR to score its second unearned run of the game.
Twice in the late innings, Ithaca had runners thrown out at the plate trying to score. In the 7th, Stephen Yanchus led off with a single and reached third after a catchers interference and sac bunt. With one out, Josh Savacool grounded to Munoz at third who fired home to get Yanchus on the tag at the plate.
The other play came in the 8th inning and was a mix between a good and bad play all in one. With a runner on first and second with one out, Pidgeon grounded back to Schulman who looked to end the inning with a double play. His throw smacked in and out of the glove of the shortstop Tyler Schmidt allowing the runners to advance. Seeing the mistake, the lead runner turned and tried to head home, but Schmidt alertly picked up his error and threw a strike to the plate to get the runner.