Marintchev cannons Engineers past Saints in doubleheader

Martin Marintchev drove in a third of the Engineers’ runs in the sweep over St. Lawrence, with 10‒7 and 5‒2 victories on Saturday. Rensselaer’s Andrew Gaughan and Ben Koomey each recorded wins in the two games.

After a quick first half-inning, the Engineers ran out to a 3‒0 lead. To lead off the first, Aidan Hicks singled to right field. During the subsequent at-bat, Cole Paquin reached on a fielding error by the shortstop, allowing Hicks to reach third base. On the first pitch he saw, Marintchev rocketed a home run to left field, giving RPI an early lead.

The Saints responded with a homer to left-center in the second inning and two additional runs in the third to tie it up at 3‒3. St. Lawrence took their only lead in the sixth inning via a walk that advanced Caleb Clark from third for a run. Marintchev and Jack Moncur both recorded outs for the Engineers in the bottom of the third, while Julian Scarpa hit a single up the middle. Phillip Li entered the game to pinch run for Scarpa as Ryan Brewer stepped up to the plate to pinch hit for Jake Contois. Brewer blasted RPI’s second home run of the game to left field, regaining the lead at 5‒4.

In the seventh inning, the Saints brought the lead back to one run with an RBI double by Clark. Marintchev, however, hit a single to left center that drove Hicks in from third, regaining the lead. After a scoreless top of the eighth for St. Lawrence, the Engineers piled on runs. Moncur opened the bottom of the inning with a leadoff homer, again to left field. Aiden Safar walked on the next at-bat, stole second, and finally advanced to third on a throwing error from the catcher. A single from Stephen Koval drove Safar home, increasing the lead to three runs. The Saints made a pitching change to try to stop the bleeding, but Hicks stepped up to the plate and bombed a two-run homer to extend the lead to 10‒5.

St. Lawrence could not make up the gap after the Engineers’ four-run eighth inning, even after driving in two runs. The first game ended as a 10‒7 RPI victory.

In the second game, the Engineers took a 4‒0 lead in the first two innings. Li led off the first inning with a single, stole second, then advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher—similar to Safar in the previous game. A single by Scarpa scored Li from third base. The second inning began with Safar being hit by a pitch, followed by him stealing second base. Safar scored by Hicks tripling to right field. Li was also hit by a pitch during the next at-bat. Miraculously, Li stole second, and Safar stole home to make the score 3‒0. Li then ran home from second with Marintchev’s single.

After three scoreless innings, RPI tacked on another run. Ayush Krishnappa reached first base on a walk to start the bottom of the sixth. Safar cracked a double to right center field, scoring Krishnappa from first to extend the lead to 5‒0. The Saints made a late surge in their last three at-bats of the seventh inning with an RBI single and double, both unearned. The Engineers took the second seven-inning game 5‒2.

With the two wins, the Engineers improved to 5‒3 in the Liberty League, and after splitting a doubleheader with Clarkson the following day, the Engineers have a conference record of 6‒4. RPI sits in second place in the East, just behind the Skidmore Thoroughbreds. The Engineers face Bard, the team below them in the East, in their next three games.