ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team dropped its opening game of the Liberty League championship tournament this afternoon, falling 7-2 to Hobart at the RIT Baseball Complex.
RPI plated the first run in the bottom of the opening inning.
Walker Abdallah singled to center to start the frame, and after the Engineers put runners on,
Matt Chotiner lined an RBI single to right to bring home
Charlie Morse for a 1-0 lead.
Hobart responded quickly with a three-run second, using a string of hits to take a 3-1 advantage, but RPI answered right back in the bottom half.
Robbie Reddington singled, Abdallah followed with another base hit, and Morse delivered an RBI single to right-center to score Reddington and cut the deficit to 3-2.
The game settled into a pitchers' duel through the middle innings, with
Garret Gates keeping the Engineers within a run and the RPI defense turning away threats. Hobart eventually added a run in the sixth to extend the margin to 4-2, and the Statesmen created separation late with an eighth-inning RBI single and two more in the ninth on a two-run double to close out the scoring.
Abdallah paced the RPI offense with a 2-for-4 day, while Morse went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Chotiner drove in the Engineers' first run with the opening-inning single, and
Michael Lebenson,
Alex Coombes, and
Jorge Hitlin each recorded a hit as RPI totaled eight.
The Engineers will next face St. Lawrence in the elimination bracket tomorrow at 9:30 am.
