Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

TROY, N.Y. – Junior Tim LeSuer went a combined 5 for 8 with five runs batted in, as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team completed a four-game series sweep with two victories over Bard College, this afternoon at Robison Field. With wins of 4-2 and 8-3, the Engineers improve to 22-10 overall (11-7 Liberty League), while the Raptors drop to 3-22-1 (0-16-1 Liberty League).
 
After Bard took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, RPI answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run single off the bat of sophomore Nick Annunziata (Neshanic Station, NJ/St. Joseph), which plated LeSuer (Oak View, CA/Nordhoff) and fellow junior Tyler Listing (West Sand Lake, NY/Averill Park).
 
The Engineers tacked on single runs in the third and fourth innings to take a 4-1 lead. Senior Shane Matthews (Ballston Spa, NY/Saratoga Catholic) knocked in one with a single to left in the third, before LeSuer drove a ball to center for his second RBI-hit of the day.
 
Bard took advantage of a Rensselaer error in the sixth to pull to within 4-2. The Raptors then loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but RPI reliever Stephen Schiavone (White Plains, NY/White Plains) came on to get a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat and pick up his first collegiate save.
 
Senior righthander Tim Gallagher (Snohomish, WA/Snohomish) improved to 5-0 on the hill, allowing two runs (1 earned) on seven hits in 6.1 innings. He struck out two and walked one.
 
Game two saw the visitors score in the top of the first again, as sophomore Alec Montecalvo (Naples, FL/St. John Neumann) stroked a single up the middle that brought home freshman Quinn McInerney (Sturgeon Bay, WI/Southern Door).
 
The Raptors made it 2-0 in the fourth on an RBI-double off the bat of sophomore Dominic Stegall (Atlanta, GA/Benjamin E. Mays).
 
In the sixth, a successful squeeze bunt in the top of the inning gave Bard a 3-0 lead, but Rensselaer came back with two in the bottom half to make it a one-run game (3-2). LeSuer did the damage in the home half, pulling a two-RBI single through the right side of the infield.
 
The Engineers completed the comeback in the seventh, scoring four runs to take a 6-3 lead. Freshman Steven Wells (Yardley, PA/The Hun School) knocked in two with a single, before LeSuer drove in his fourth and fifth runs of the day with a hit up the middle.
 
Annunziata capped his fine day the plate with a two-run single in the eighth to make it 8-3.
 
Sophomore lefty Adam Kalish (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) earned the win (3-0) in relief, throwing 3.0 perfect innings, striking out two.
 
Rensselaer is back in action next weekend, when it travels to St. Lawrence for a four-game series to close out the regular season. Play begins on Saturday (1pm) and concludes on Sunday (12pm). Bard plays a home-and-home, four-games set with Vassar next weekend.