TROY, N.Y. – The Castleton baseball team fell victim to a three-run third inning, dropping a Tuesday matinee to RPI, 5-3.
Tyler McLain led the way at the dish with a 3-for-5 afternoon as one of four Spartans (6-9) who tallied an extra-base hit. Jackson Cardozo extended his hit streak to four games with a 2-for-5 afternoon, scoring a run. Taking the team lead in homers, Hunter Perkins blasted his third home run of the season – a solo shot – while drawing a walk with two runs scored. As a team, Castleton tied RPI (10-6-1) with nine hits on the day.
Getting his first career start on the mound, Sam Crawford struck out a trio of Engineers while allowing three earned runs on six hits and one walk. In relief, Brayden Howrigan fanned six with three hits and two runs allowed across 3.2 innings. Southpaw Zack Marlow closed it out for the Spartans, tossing 1.1 frames unblemished with a pair of strikeouts.
The squads traded hits in the first inning as Perkins drew a walk to begin the second stanza. A groundout moved the Quechee, Vt. native to second, advancing to third on a passed ball with two outs. Kannon Dush grounded to third, but the fielder's errant throw allowed him to reach and Perkins to score and give Castleton an early advantage. However, the Engineers used a five-hit frame in the third inning to jump ahead 3-1.
In the ensuing half-inning, the Spartans got a single from Addison Schaub and a ground-rule double from Brandon Ramirez in a two-out rally. Dush walked to load the bases, but RPI hurler Andrew Gaughan forced Ryan Lawrence to fly out, ending the threat. Howrigan took over pitching duties in the home half and went 1-2-3 against the bottom of the Engineer lineup.
Castleton strung together offense with two down once again in the fifth inning as Cardozo singled, moved up to third on a pair of wild pitches, and scored thanks to a Keegan RBI double. RPI put the deficit back at two with a sac fly in the next half. Both sides were nearly retired in order in the sixth as Howrigan put away the first two hitters on strikes then allowed a single, but Schaub caught the runner stealing moments later.
After CU left two aboard in the top of the seventh, RPI's Phillip Li walked and stole second to set up an RBI single to plate an insurance run, making it 5-2. Perkins led off the eighth stanza with a solo homer, but the Engineers stranded two runners and retired the Spartans in order in the ninth to take a 5-3 victory.
On the road for another non-conference midweek matchup, the Spartans are set to battle Anna Maria on Thursday, March 30 after its postponement two weeks ago. First pitch from the New England Baseball Complex is scheduled for 3 p.m.
