Game 1 Box / Game 2 Box

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Junior Joe Zongol (Flower Mound, TX/Southington (CT)) pitched a complete game, five-hitter to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team to a 3-0 win over the University of Rochester in the first game of a Liberty League doubleheader at Towers Field. The Yellowjackets came back to earn the split, winning the second game, 15-4.

RPI, the 16th-ranked team in the nation, is now 13-6 overall and 3-3 in conference play. Rochester is 14-7 and 7-3 in the Liberty League.

Zongol improved his record to 3-0 with the help of four strikeouts in 7.0 innings. In addition to allowing five hits, he gave up just one walk. Offensively, Rensselaer scored three runs in the fourth and seventh innings, highlighted by a home run from senior Adam Lasek (Waterford, NY/Waterford) and a two-out single by classmate Jason Pollard (Hudson, NY/Hudson).

In the nightcap, Rochester led 3-1 after five innings, but the Red Hawks battled back to pull within one in the top of the sixth on a ground out by Lasek. With runners on second and third, Lasek sent a drive to the shortstop bringing home senior Ken Carroll (Shelton, CT/Fairfield Prep.). The Yellowjackets broke open the game in the bottom of the sixth with nine runs on seven hits for a 12-2 advantage. Dan Brien and Jim Bard both had two-run singles in the inning, capped off by a bases clearing double by Ed Kahovick.

Freshman hurler John Dreimiller (Ticonderoga, NY/Ticonderoga) shouldered the loss for Rensselaer going four and two-thirds with three runs allowed (2 earned). He also had four strikeouts. Junior Tim Klein (Westwood, NJ/St. Joseph Regional) relieved Dreimiller, pitching two-thirds of an inning with seven runs allowed (3 earned) on six hits.

The same two teams play a doubleheader on Saturday at noon at Towers Field.