TROY, N.Y.- The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team suffered 11-8 and 8-6 setbacks in the first two contests of a four-game weekend series against non-conference opponent New York University at Karl Steffen Ballpark.

Matt Chotiner went 4-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored in game one for the Engineers. Martin Marintchev and Julian Scarpa each logged a pair of hits as well in the opener. Scarpa and Owen Burnsworth finished with two RBI to lead the Engineer lineup.

Game one began with Marintchev driving in Chotiner to put RPI ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning, however the next five runs would belong to NYU, who scored three in the second and two more in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead into the middle frames.

Scarpa helped RPI get two runs back, as he plated Chotiner with a base hit to left in the bottom of the fourth before knocking in Kameron Levesque with a single up the middle in the sixth.

The Violets would score five times in the top of the seventh to extend their advantage to 10-3. 

Chotiner singled in a run in the seventh, Burnsworth drove in two with a double in the eighth, and Levesque and Ayush Krishnappa recorded RBI on productive outs in the ninth, but the NYU lead was too much to overcome in the opener.

Game two saw NYU score the first six runs of the nightcap prior to RPI getting on the board with a Joey Saia RBI single in the third.

The Violets got two more in the fourth to push the advantage to 8-2 before RPI posted a run in the fifth and three in the sixth to move within two, the closest the Engineers could manage in the finale. 

Krishnappa sparked the comeback effort with run-scoring doubles in both the fifth and sixth. Scarpa knocked in a run as well as part of the sixth-inning rally. Krishnappa finished 3-for-4 with three RBI, while Saia reached base in all four plate appearances.

The two squads flip around for another twin bill tomorrow, with first pitch set for 12:00 pm.