The Brockport Golden Eagles baseball team led off conference play with a doubleheader sweep against the Fredonia Blue Devils. Brockport took the first game 12-2 in seven innings and won the second game 11-2.
“I just saw some guys get opportunities to step up and they did,” Brockport head coach Justin Beach said.
Brockport got going early in game one. Zach Eldred drew a first-inning walk and two batters later sophomore Cole Traudt would drive him in on a single to jump Brockport out to a 1-0 lead.
Fredonia pitchers struggled all day to find the strike zone and in the second inning, a string of errors and walks by the Blue Devils would load the bases for the Golden Eagles. Eldred would draw a walk with the bases loaded to grab an RBI. Brian Tietjen would then step up to the plate and send a two-RBI single right back up the middle to extend the lead to 4-0. Cole Traudt followed reaching on an error which led to two runs being scored and the Golden Eagles’ lead extending to 6-0 after two innings.
Fredonia would get two runs back to cut the lead to 6-2 going into the bottom of the fifth. Nick Mahar would drive in two runs for Brockport after a series of singles loaded the bases for him. Josh Indek followed with a sacrifice fly which extended the lead to 9-2. Frank Vanzillotta would then hit a single which drove in the fourth run of the inning to grab a 10-2 lead.
Freshman Kyle Blake would drive in a run off of a single in the bottom of the seventh. With bases loaded Jason Mansell would hit a single that drove in the 12th run of the game which led to the 10-run rule coming in place and ending the game in the seventh inning.
Matt McGowan got the pitching win going five innings for Brockport with five strikeouts. Anthony Lapine came in relief for McGowan and went two innings with three strikeouts.
In the second game, Traudt continued his big day, driving in Indek on a single to give Brockport an early 1-0 lead. Mahar would then reach on an error which led to two runs scoring for the Golden Eagles as they grabbed a 3-0 lead at the end of the first.
Taking advantage of plenty of errors on Fredonia, Vanzillotta would reach on an error with Sean Becker scoring. Tietjen would hit a sacrifice fly which scored one run and Vanzillotta would steal home later in the inning. Brockport led 6-0 after two.
Freshman Matt Mayer took advantage of an opportunity to get into the lineup and hit a solo home run in the third inning.
“It came down to my coaches and teammates believing and instilling confidence in me,” Mayer said. “No matter what happens I know they will be cheering my name.”
Kyle Tedford hit a solo shot in the fourth inning for the Blue Devils to cut the lead to 7-1. Mayer would then continue his big day with a two-run double in the fourth inning. In the sixth inning, Fredonia tacked on one more run to cut the lead to 9-2. Finally, in the bottom of the sixth, Brockport capped off their 11-2 win with a two-run single from Mayer, who finished with five RBI.
Justin DelVecchio went six innings and allowed two runs, he also picked up his 100th career strikeout while fanning eight on the day.
“Not only is he (DelVecchio) an awesome player, but more impressively he is an awesome human,” Beach said.
DelVecchio joins a prestigious group of pitchers in Brockport history being only the 17th player to reach 100 strikeouts.
“It’s awesome and a great feeling,” DelVecchio said. “I wouldn’t have done this without my catchers and teammates.”
Brockport will finish off its SUNYAC opening series against Fredonia tomorrow at home with the first pitch scheduled for 10 a.m.
