DAVENPORT, Fla. (March 4) – The Saint Vincent baseball team dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker to Rochester Institute of Technology on the fourth day of the RussMatt Collegiate Baseball Invitational at Northeast Regional Park.
 
In a game in which the two teams combined for just 12 hits, RIT's Chris Reilly ended the pitcher's duel with a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth.
 
Making his first career start, Saint Vincent sophomore Jeremy Kruezweiser turned in a dominant performance on the mound, allowing one run on five hits with five strikeouts in 7.2 innings. He was saddled with the no-decision.
 
RIT opened the game's scoring in the bottom of the first, when Reilly's RBI single drove home Patrick Blackall, who doubled with one out. From there, Kruezweiser took control, allowing just three more hits and facing just four batters over the minimum before giving way to reliever Tyler Chrise with two down in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Despite recording hits in each of the first three innings, the Bearcats were held off of the scoreboard until the top of the fourth. Jordan Sabol doubled to lead off the inning for his second hit of the day, before moving to third on a Ben Menarchek single. An error on a ball hit by TJ Dailey plated Sabol to tie the game at 1, but RIT starter Collin Reformat escaped further trouble by recording two strikeouts and a groundout to end the inning.
 
RIT looked primed to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth after a pair of singles, but Kruezweiser ended the threat by inducing a pair of flyball outs. In the top of the seventh, SVC put two men on after Billy Perroz and Matt Lockwich were each hit by a pitch, but Tiger reliever Alex Slotter escaped the threat with a strikeout and ground out.
 
A single and stolen base put the go-ahead run on second for RIT in the bottom of the eighth, but this time the Bearcats escaped the jam. Kreuzweiser got the second out of the inning via strikeout, before Chrise came on to end the inning with a fly out to center field.
 
In what would be their final at bats of the day, the Bearcats again threatened in the top of the ninth, as Dailey walked and Perroz singled to open the inning. They would get no further, however, as Slotter recorded a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to avoid any damage and set up Reilly's ninth-inning heroics.
 
Perroz (2-for-3) and Sabol (2-for-4) recorded multi-hit games for the Bearcats, while Reilly and Will Porter each had two hits for the Tigers.
 
The loss drops SVC's record to 3-2 on the young season, while RIT moves to 3-1. Saint Vincent will now wrap up its week in Florida with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, March 5, against Fitchburg State.