Senior Charlie Yarnold left the mound after the ninth inning Sunday afternoon on a fitting note; he had just struck out Matt Carrigg for his 10th punch-out of the game, and had put the finishing touch on a weekend in which Rensselaer went to Canton, N.Y., and stole three out of four from league foe St. Lawrence.
The Saints, who knocked the Red Hawks out of the postseason early last year, left their offense in the locker room on Sunday. In the doubleheader, the Saints managed only one run on six hits and returned to the dugout 17 times via the strikeout.
Junior Luke Calzone took the mound in the first game and left with his fifth victory this season. Calzone (5-0, 1.18 ERA) went the distance, all seven innings, and gave up only one run, a four-bagger allowed in the fourth inning to Joe Regonlinski.
St. Lawrence wasted a solid pitching performance from Mike Gipson who allowed two runs, but only one earned, in the 2-1 loss.
RPI got on the board early on a blunder by the Saints infield. Senior captain Mike Passante reached on a two-out error by the shortstop, stole second, and scored on a single by fellow senior Rich Mundy.
The Red Hawks had the bases loaded in the fourth, but could only manage a run. Senior captain Joe Ihnatolya, who led off the inning with a base hit, scored the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice by junior Jason Pollard.
Yarnold (2-1, 1.33 ERA) got the nod in the late game, and pitched a gem, shutting out the Saints on just two hits. Only one Saint touched second base, and that was due to an error.
Passante got the Red Hawks started again, doubling home a run and scoring later in the first on a single by sophomore Stevan Slusher. That was all Yarnold needed. RPI added a few insurance runs later in the game to make the final score 4-0.
Saturday was the start of the series between RPI and St. Lawrence. The teams split the day one contests, with RPI winning the first 8-6 and extending their winning streak to seven.
Despite a relatively off day for sophomore Tim Klein (1-1, 3.09 ERA), the Red Hawks managed to pull out the victory. Klein pitched seven innings, allowing 11 hits and five runs, with four earned. Leaving with the game tied at five, freshman Andrew Novick got the win out of the bullpen.
Tied going into the ninth, Passante led off by running out an error. He later scored on a sacrifice fly by Slusher. Junior Adam Lasek and freshman Bob Murphy added RBI singles to fuel the three-run rally, giving the Red Hawks the win.
RPI dropped the nightcap 2-0, despite a strong performance by fellow sophomore Joe Zongol (3-1, 3.58 ERA) who pitched six innings allowing just two runs while striking out eight.
St. Lawrence didn’t get on the board until the fifth, but it wouldn’t matter as RPI couldn’t put the bat on the ball, scattering just three hits, two by Passante.
In non-league action, RPI traveled to New Jersey last week to take on Montclair State, and hosted Castleton State. The squad won the “Battle of the Red Hawks” Wednesday, beating Montclair State 9-5. Knotted at five in the top of the seventh, Passante again started the rally. He singled and scored later on a double by Mundy. Klein came in and got his second save of the season by pitching two perfect innings.
A seven-run fifth inning propelled RPI past Castleton State on Thursday. Down 2-1, the Red Hawks piled it on with some small ball, compiling a couple hits and taking advantage of a few defensive lapses by the Spartans.
Rensselaer (14-7, 5-3) will take on New Paltz before returning to league action this weekend against Rochester (10-12, 9-3), who currently sits atop the Liberty League.
