AUBURNDALE, Fla. (March 16, 2011) – Junior second baseman Tom Phillips launched his first home run of the 2011 season with two-outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team suffered an 25-7 loss at the hands of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale, Fla. With the loss, the Ducks fell to 1-6 overall on the season, while the Engineers improved to 4-3 on the year.
RPI wasted no time getting on the board, pushing across two runs in the top of the first on three hits and a pair of Stevens errors. Reaching on a Ducks' miscue, junior Kyle LaVingne (Ashland, Mass.) stole second before advancing to third on a Jonny Rio (Maplewood, N.J.) one-out single. Sophomore Tanner Boucher (Keene, N.H.) then ripped a base-hit, scoring LaVigne, while allowing Rio to move to third. Later in the inning, junior Art Levenson (San Diego, Calif.) drove home the Engineers second run, plating Rio with an RBI-single.
Hoping to keep pace, the Ducks got a run back in the bottom half of the frame, trimming the deficit to 2-1. With two outs and senior catcher Denis Ackermann on second after drawing a walk and advancing on a balk, fellow senior Russ Grimes (dropped an RBI-single down the left field line, to notch Stevens' first run. Senior Kenneth Meerendonk then put Grimes in scoring position with a base-hit, but an ensuing fly-out ended the Ducks' hopes of knotting the game.
The Engineers responded by tacking on a run in the top of the second, before putting up a three-spot in the fourth to take a commanding 7-1 advantage. RPI recorded three hits in their fourth-inning outburst, getting runs off of a Levenson sacrifice fly, a Chuck Erickson (Mansfield, Mass.) RBI-single, and another Ducks' error.
After LaVigne belted a homer to right in the top of the fifth, upping the margin to 8-1, Phillips responded with a two-out roundtripper of his own in the bottom half of the frame to momentarily pull Stevens back within two. Undaunted, the Engineers again answered, this time pushing across three in the top of the sixth to extend their cushion to nine.
Trying to stay within striking distance, the Ducks got a pair back in the bottom of the stanza, making it 11-4. Grimes and Meerendonk got the rally started with back-to-back singles, before junior TJ Alcorn drove in Stevens' third run of the afternoon with an RBI single. With the bases loaded and no outs after a Ryan Kiczek base-knock to left, sophomore Tyler Courter grounded into a double-play, but Meerendonk came across to bring the Ducks back within seven.
Following a pair of RPI runs in the Engineer half of the seventh, Stevens countered with three scores in the bottom half of the frame on a pair of Grimes and Meerendonk sacrifice flies and a Kiczek RBI-single. Looking to pull away, RPI exploded for 12 runs over the final two innings – including nine in the ninth – to secure its fourth victory of the season.
Phillips and Grimes each finished 2-for-4 on the day, with the duo combining for three RBI and three runs scored. Meerendonk went 4-for-4 on the afternoon with a run-batted-in and a run scored, while Kiczek recorded a pair of hits and an RBI.
Boucher paced the RPI attack with five hits and two RBI, while Rio went 4-for-6 with five runs scored.
Stevens will look to bounce back against No. 20 SUNY Cortland on Thursday, March 16.
