TROY, NY - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team split an afternoon doubleheader against Vermont State Castleton today at Karl Steffen Ballpark.

RPI received 7.0 strong innings from starter Liam Riordan to claim a 4-1 victory in game one. Riordan struck out five and allowed only four hits before Dylan Chan and Cameron Heuer closed out the final two innings.

Walker Abdallah was 3-for-4 in the win. Jon Primerano, Julian Scarpa, and Michael Lebenson logged two hits each as well.

After Ian Oehlschlaeger gave RPI an early lead thanks to a solo home run in the bottom of the first, Robbie Reddington increased the margin to 2-0 with a sacrifice fly that scored Abdallah in the second.

The Spartans got a run back in the top of the sixth, however Scarpa and Aidan Hicks provided run-scoring hits in the seventh and eighth, respectively, to cushion the RPI advantage.

Scarpa laced a double to the left field gap that plated Jon Primerano, and Hicks singled home Tucker Brown and Jack Mullins an inning later.

The Engineers led late in game two, however big rallies by VTSU gave the visitors a 15-9 win in extra innings.

Ayush Krishnappa had two home runs and six RBI and Kameron Levesque was 3-for-6 in the finale.

Krishnappa blasted a two-run shot in the fourth before clearing the bases with a grand slam in the seventh.

Oehlschlaeger sandwiched the Krishnappa homers with a bases-loaded triple that scored two runs in the fifth.

RPI enjoyed a 9-3 lead, but the Spartans would score six in the eighth and six the 10th to steal the win.

Looking ahead, the Engineers will next take the field on Friday afternoon at Bard.