TROY, N.Y. – The Castleton baseball team put together their best offensive performance in recent memory in their matchup against RPI Sunday afternoon, scoring a season-high 17 runs — including four in the ninth inning — to earn a huge 17-15 win over the Engineers.
Hunter Perkins played hero ball in the contest, going 4-7 and tallying three runs, a career-high five RBIs and the eventual game-clinching home run — his first of the year — in the top of the ninth to hand the Spartans their fifth win on the year.
On the mound, Castleton went to their bullpen early and often Sunday, getting solid outings from starting pitcher
Stephen Coffey,
Max Olmsted, and
Adam Winchell — who earned his first win of the season in the contest — before
Jack Callahan closed out the game in the ninth..
The Spartans (5-6) wasted no time getting on the board in Sunday's meeting, with an RBI-single from
Carson Mosher and a wild pitch giving Castleton a 2-0 lead after one.
RPI (5-6) would respond and take a 3-2 lead after three innings, but after exploding for a nine-run fourth inning in Saturday's matchup against Anna Maria, the Spartans struck gold in the fourth once again Sunday, tallying eight runs in the frame to take a commanding 10-3 lead.
Jackson Cardozo scored the opening run of the inning off a wild pitch before Perkins tallied his first and second RBIs on a single into left field, scoring
Jesus Cardenas and
Ryan Lawrence. An
Evan Keegan single put Castleton up 6-3 before a walk, hit-by-pitch and sacrifice fly saw the lead balloon to six. The Spartans cycled through their batting order and added another run via Perkins' third RBI of the inning to go up 10-3..
The Engineers scored four runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to stop the bleeding, but Castleton still held a comfortable 10-7 lead halfway through the game.
The Spartans added three runs in the sixth and seventh, but a six-run bottom of the seventh from RPI followed by a scoreless eighth made it a tie game heading into the final inning.
Jake O'Brien and
Tyler McLain got things started with back-to-back singles before Cardozo earned a walk to load the bases. A single from Cardenas scored two runners before Perkins hit his first homerun of the year to give the Spartans the 17-13 lead.
After an impressive weekend, the junior now leads the team in RBIs (12), ranks second in doubles (3) and runs (9), and ranks third in hits (12).
RPI made another try at the comeback, scoring two quick runs in the bottom of the frame, but Callahan held on for retiring two straight batters to earn the 17-15 win, his first of the year.
Castleton returns to action Saturday, March 26, as they open up Little East play with a matchup against Eastern Connecticut State. First pitch is set for 12 p.m.
