Game 1 Box / Game 2 Box
TROY, N.Y. – Pitchers Joe Zongol (Flower Mound, TX/Southington) and Andy Opperman (Oneida, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) combined to strike out 25 batters in leading the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team in a Liberty League doubleheader sweep of Clarkson University, 9-4 and 5-1, at Robison Field.
Zongol struck out 14 in a complete game effort in game one and Opperman struck out 11 in the nightcap. Both games were seven inning affairs. Rensselaer is now 19-7 overall, including five straight wins, and 8-4 in the Liberty League. Clarkson falls to 4-17 and 4-6.
Following a first inning in which he allowed three runs on five hits, Zongol settled down to give up just one more run and five hits through the final 6.0 innings. He struck out at least one batter in every inning, including the side in the third.
Offensively Rensselaer overcame two separate three-run deficits by scoring once in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, twice in the sixth and four times in the seventh. The go-ahead run in the fifth inning came courtesy of four singles and a sacrifice bunt.
RPI sophomore third baseman Jim Devine (Castleton, NY/Columbia) finished 2 for 3 with two runs, two RBI, including the game-tying run batted in in the sixth, and a stolen base. Three others had two hits, including senior first baseman Ken Carroll (Shelton, CT/Fairfield Prep), who also scored twice.
Clarkson had three players with multiple hits, including freshman shortstop Matt Curry (Richland, NY/Pulaski), who also scored a run, and freshman second baseman Ralph Rizzo (Bohemia, NY/Connetquot), who added an RBI. Senior Darrell Carey (Dade City, FL/St. John the Baptist) allowed 12 hits and seven earned runs with four strikeouts in 6.1 innings to take the loss.
In the second game, Opperman allowed just two hits and struck out at least one batter in six innings, including five innings with two strikeouts. He walked three. Junior Dan Valentine (Goshen, CT/Avon Old Farms) was 2 for 3, including a two-run triple in a four-run fourth inning, and classmate Shane Griffin (Hudson, NY/Hudson) added two hits and an RBI.
Clarkson sophomore Greg Chojecki (West Seneca, NY/St. Francis) pitched all 6.0 innings, allowing eight hits and five earned runs with two strikeouts and a walk. Senior Gerald Stothers (Fort Myers, FL/Ballston Spa) had an RBI single for the Golden Knights.
Rensselaer is back in action on Thursday for a non-league game at Williams College (4:15pm). Clarkson hosts Ithaca College on Thursday at Duffy Fairgrounds in Watertown on Thursday at 4pm.
