Valesente gets 900th win in Ithaca uniform
Ithaca (12-12) rallied for an 8-6 win over visiting Oneonta
(20-12) Wednesday at Freeman Field, giving Coach George Valesente
the 900th win of his Bomber career. Valesente is 13 wins from his
1000th coaching victory in D-III.
Valesente, who took over at his alma mater in 1978, is now
900-351-7 at Ithaca. His overall coaching record, which also
includes stints at Brockport, New Paltz and Maritime, is 987-448-7.
He entered the season third in wins among active Division III
coaches.
Ithaca's win was spearheaded by two-out hitting and strong relief
pitching. The Bombers scored six of their last seven runs with two
outs, including all three in their fifth-inning rally that put them
ahead to stay. Senior Aaron Sapp earned his team-best fourth win of
the season, throwing three innings of three-hit relief. Junior
Tucker Healy earned the save, striking out five of the seven
batters he faced.
Junior second baseman Matt Keller and junior left fielder Taegen
Barresi, who both had three hits on the day, drove in the tying and
go-ahead runs in the fifth. With Ithaca down 4-2, senior center
fielder Rob Zappia singled up the middle to score sophomore Ian
Gaule (Columbai/East Greenbush) who'd led off with a double.
Keller's double plated the tying run and Baresi's single to left
field scored Keller from second.
Barresi collected a single, double (his team-leading ninth) and
triple. Keller also drove in an insurance run in the eighth.
The Red Dragons, who lost their ninth straight at Freeman Field and
fell to 8-46 all-time against the Bombers, nearly tied the game in
the eighth but lost a run on a bizarre base-running mishap. With
Ithaca up 7-4, Sapp hit the leadoff hitter; the next batter hit a
ball over the left field fence that Barresi nearly caught.
Oneonta's batter passed the runner already on base and was called
out, with the runner scoring. The next three Red Dragons reached
base, bringing home one run and putting the tying run on third and
the go-ahead run on second. Healy came in and fanned the next two
hitters to end the inning.
In the ninth, Healy struck out two more Red Dragons after giving
off a lead-off single, then walked a batter to put the tying run on
base before nailing down the win with this fifth strikeout of the
day.
Senior first baseman Trevor Wolf singled and doubled. He scored
Ithaca's first run on an errant pickoff throw as the Bombers took a
2-0 lead in the second. Wolf followed Baresi's lead-off triple in
the seventh with an RBI single.
Sapp (4-3) struck out four in his three-inning relief stint.
Ithaca's 14 hits marked the 14th time in 24 games the Bombers have
reached double digits in base hits. The Bomber pitchers combined
for 10 strikeouts -- one short of the team's single-game high this
spring.
