Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Sophomore Matt Karis (Southborough, Mass./Noble & Greenough) carried a 4-1 lead into the ninth, but 29th-ranked Ithaca College rallied with five runs and defeated the Bullets 6-4 in a non-conference baseball game at Kirchhoff Field Friday afternoon.

Ithaca (6-3), which scored four times when it was down to its last out, needed only three hits to make its comeback, which was aided by two errors, a wild pitch, and a pair of hit batsmen.

Karis came away with a no-decision despite another stellar performance in which he held the Bombers to two runs on eight hits. He finished with four strikeouts and three walks and escaped bases-loaded jams in both the seventh and eighth innings.

Sophomore Cam Riera (Medway, Mass./Medway) led the Bullets (6-9) offensively, going 3-for-5 with a triple while senior Scott Vladyka (Stanhope, N.J./Lenape Valley Regional) was 2-for-4 with two runs and a double.

Dylan Perez and Matt Streich each went 3-for-5 for Ithaca while Aaron Sapp (3-0) earned the win on the mound, yielding four runs (three earned) on nine hits while striking out four. Tucker Healy threw a scoreless ninth to pick his second save of the year.

With the Bullets leading 4-1, No. 8 hitter Brian Grastdorf reached on an infield single leading off the ninth. With his pitch count at 123, Karis was replaced with junior Derek Zaleski (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield), who struck out his first batter. But after hitting the leadoff hitter, Zaleski (1-2) uncorked a wild pitch, moving the runners to second and third. He then induced a groundout to short that scored a run, making it 4-2.

Perez then drilled an RBI-single to right to make it a one-run game before Zaleski hit his second batter, putting runners on first and second. Streich followed up with a single, but the lead runner was held at third before the ball dribbled past the leftfielder, allowing the tying run to score. Alan Kartholl then drilled a deep fly ball to center that was dropped, pushing across Ithaca's final two runs.

The Bullets took a 1-0 lead in the second when Vladyka led off with a single, stole second, and was sacrificed to third before scoring on a wild pitch. After the Bombers tied it in the fourth on a Perez single and an Ahonen double, Sapp retired 10 of 11 batters before running into trouble in the fifth. With one out and a runner on first, freshman Drew Roy (Needham, Mass./Needham) and Riera smacked back-to-back singles, the second of which scored a run to make it 2-1.

Gettysburg added single runs in the sixth and seventh to push the lead to three. Vladyka got things going again in the sixth, doubling with one out before scoring on a two-out single from junior Kevin Langhauser (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge). Then in the seventh, Riera tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly from junior Mike Backus (Piscataway, N.J./Immaculata).

Gettysburg concludes its three-game homestand on Saturday, when it hosts SUNY Oneonta in a doubleheader starting at noon.