FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Skidmore College baseball team salvaged a split doubleheader split on Saturday in its final day of play in Florida. The Thoroughbreds lost to Franklin and Marshall College, 5-4, before coming back with a 16-6 win over Western Connecticut State.
 

• Skidmore finishes its trip with a 7-2 record. The Thoroughbreds return north at 8-4 overall.
• Danny Melillo had six hits on the day. He went 6-for-8 with two RBI, a stolen base and two stellar running catches in center field.

 
GAME 1 – Franklin and Marshall 5, Skidmore 4

• Franklin and Marshall scored two in the seventh, one in the eighth, and one in the ninth to come back from a 4-1 deficit and win.
• With runners at first and second with one out in the top of the ninth, Patrick Cettina singled in the go-ahead run with a single to left-center field.
• In the bottom of the ninth, Melillo led off with a single and Jackson Hornung walked. Then, Trey Bourque moved both runners up with a successful sacrifice bunt. Max Mello was walked intentionally to load the bases with one out. FMC reliever Thomas McLaughlin got a strikeout swinging and stabbed a hard grounder back at him to end it.
• Mello reached on a fielding error but recorded an RBI as two runs came around to score to open the scoring in the first inning.
• The Diplomats got a run back in the third on an AJ Desautels RBI single.
• In the bottom of the fourth, the Thoroughbreds plated a pair. Brendan O'Neill singled with one out and after two errors scored one, Melillo hit s single through the right side to score another.
• Melillo was 5-for-5 with an RBI and a run. Cettina had three hits and a walk in five trips for the Diplomats.
• Quinn Hocom struck out nine batters in 6.2 innings of work for Skidmore. He walked three and worked around eight hits (seven singles) and exited with the lead in the seventh.    

GAME 2 – Skidmore 16, Western Connecticut State 6

• The Thoroughbreds completed their three-game sweep of WestConn by scoring 16 runs on 16 hits.
• Six players had multi-hit games for the Thoroughbreds. Hornung led the way with three hits, a walk, two RBI, and three runs scored.
• Anthony Petersen also scored three times. He was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a walk.
• Zachary Leiderman drove in four runs on a 2-for-4 afternoon.
• Skidmore got out to an early lead, 2-0, in the first inning. Hornung walked and went to third on a double from Bourque. Leiderman picked up an RBI with a ground out. Then, O'Neill singled to score Bourque from third.
• Skidmore's big inning was the second, when it scored six runs on the strength of seven consecutive base hits, including a two-run triple by Leiderman. Nate Vandersea, Hornung, Bourque, Leiderman, and O'Neill all had run-scoring hits in the big inning for the Thoroughbreds.
• Vandersea walked with the bases loaded, Melillo hit a sacrifice fly, and Hornung singled to score three more runs in the top of the fifth inning.
• Skidmore plated single runs in the sixth and eight sandwiched with three in the seventh. Andy Pelc hit a two-run triple to put a stamp on the seventh inning for Skidmore.
• Ewen Donald picked up the win. He allowed two runs on three hits over four innings of work in relief. He struck out three and walked two.  Ethan Barnett struck out two hitters in a blemish-free bottom of the seventh.

 
NEXT UP: Skidmore will open Liberty League play March 24-25 against Rensselaer.