Box score
BURLINGTON, VT--Host Vermont rode a dominant pitching performance headed by 12 strikeouts in seven innings for starter Keith Rakus to a 6-1 win over NJIT Saturday on the second day of the Catamount Baseball Classic, held at Centennial Field.
The Catamounts, who halted Manhattan's eight-game winning streak with a well-pitched 3-2 victory in Saturday's first game, used three pitchers against the Highlanders and the UVM trio combined on a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts and four bases-on-balls in the 6-1 win.
Manhattan had beaten both Vermont and NJIT on Friday, so the host Catamounts and Manhattan each finished the Classic with 2-1 records, while NJIT, which played one fewer game, finished 0-2.
Senior RHP Keith Rakus (2-3) started and worked the first seven innings for Vermont against the Highlanders.
Staked to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Rakus allowed NJIT's only two hits and the tying run in the top of the second inning. but he struck out nine of the next 11 batters after surrendering the game-tying RBI single to Highlander 1B Kyle McCarthy with two outs in the frame.
Rakus, a hard-throwing four-year starting pitcher for the Catamounts, struck out a career-high 12 and walked three with a hit batsman, while allowing the two hits in his seven innings. Freshman RHP Gavin McCullough pitched the eighth inning, allowing a walk and also hitting a batter. Freshman LHP Greg Lutton wrapped up the win by pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning that included one strikeout.
NJIT's pitcher of record was senior LHP PJ Saporito (1-5), who pitching seven innings and yielded five runs on nine hits. He struck out six, walked one and hit one batter. Sophomore RHP Steven Ace allowed two hits and a run in the eighth inning.
Vermont scored once in the first inning and saw NJIT tie in the top of the second, but answered immediately, with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Saporito kept the Highlanders in the game with three straight scoreless innings, but UVM extended its lead to 5-1 with a pair of runs in the sixth and later closed the scoring with an eighth-inning run off of Ace.
Vermont's fourth through seventh hitters all collected two hits apiece and 1B Ethan Paquette (2-for-4) drove in three runs.
DH Justin Milo, in his first day of baseball after helping Vermont's ice hockey team to a berth in the NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Frozen Four, where he scored a goal in Thursday night's national semifinal against Boston University, was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and one batted in against the Highlanders.
The two NJIT hits figured in the Highlander run in the second inning. DH Dan Moreno led off with a single, but was wiped out on a fielder's choice. C Bryan Bleakley, who replaced Moreno on the bases, advanced to second on a walk and then scored on McCarthy's two-out single through the right side.
Vermont, which had scored its first run on a ground out in the first inning, quickly jumped back on top in the bottom of the second. LF Tom Kelly (2-for-4) led off with a double and Milo followed with a single up the middle to score Kelly with UVM's second run. Paquette then doubled to bring home Milo. Saporito got the next three batters, two on strikeouts, to escape any more damage.
Paquette singled to drive home C Jeff Nolet (2-for-4) and Kelly with two more runs in the sixth inning and Milo doubled to lead off the eighth and later scored on an infield ground out.
Although the Highlanders did not get any hits after the second inning, they got two runners in the top of the eighth, trailing, 5-1. With one out, freshman RF Anthony Caiola, making his first college start, walked and the next batter, 2B Craig Binkiewicz was hit by a pitch. But McCullough, the first Vermont reliever, retired the next two NJIT batters to extinguish the threat.
NJIT will travel to the Philadelphia area on Tuesday, taking on Saint Joseph's in a 3:30 pm game at Latshaw-McCarthy Field in Norristown, PA.
