Game 1 Box / Game 2 Box

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Junior second baseman Dan Feenan hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning to lift the Rensselaer baseball team to a 6-4 win at Skidmore and a split in a Liberty League doubleheader.  The homestanding Thoroughbreds won the first game, 8-5.

RPI concludes the regular season with a 30-10 record, including an 18-6 mark in the Liberty League.  The Red Hawks are the second seed in next weekend's Liberty League Tournament at Rochester.  Skidmore, which is now 20-17 and 12-12, did not qualify for the four-team, double elimination event.

Rensselaer earned the split when Feenan (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) hit his first career home run off the scoreboard with runners on first and second base.  Trailing, 4-3, heading into the final inning, senior Ken Carroll (Shelton, CT/Fairfield Prep) struckout but reached on a passed ball.  The next batter, Andrew Krushelnyski (Bloomfield Hills, MI/Brother Rice), singled to put two runners aboard for Feenan, who finished 3 for 4 with a run and four RBI.

Skidmore jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning but RPI answered with two runs of its own in its next at bat.  Senior Dan Valentine (Goshen, CT/Avon Old Farms) doubled home one of the runs and scored the second.

The Red Hawks went ahead, 3-2, in the seventh inning when Feenan singled home Carroll but the Thoroughbreds came back with two runs in the bottom of the frame for a 4-3 lead. 

Junior Andrew Novick (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay) earned the win on the mound, pitching 2.1 innings of relief.  He allowed no hits and just one walk with a strikeout to improve to 3-2.  Skidmore's Ed Reilly (Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly) pitched the ninth inning and took the loss.

In the first game, Carroll was saddled with his first loss of the season as he allowed six runs (4 earned) on six hits and two walks in 2.1 innings.  He is now 5-1.  Skidmore pitcher Spencer Marcus (Scarsdale, NY/Scarsdale) earned the complete game win, allowing five runs (4 earned) on seven hits, no walks and six strikeouts.

Skidmore held a 6-0 lead after three innings and a 7-1 margin after four before RPI put four runs on the board in the fifth inning to make the score 7-5.  Feenan had one of four Rensselaer hits and an RBI in the frame.