POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Skidmore College baseball team took a stranglehold on the Liberty League East with a doubleheader sweep (8-6, 13-11) at Vassar to complete a three-game weekend sweep over the Brewers.
 

• Skidmore is 16-6 and now 7-2 in the Liberty League East. The Thoroughbreds have a 2.5 game lead with three in-division games remaining. Vassar is 14-10 and 2-4 in the division.
• Danny Melillo had six RBI on the day with two triples and four runs scored.
• Skidmore scored 14 runs, seven each, in the two sixth innings.

 
GAME 1 – Skidmore 8, Vassar 6

• Skidmore scored seven of its eight runs in the top of the sixth inning to erase a five-run deficit. Melillo cleared the bases with a two-out triple to give Skidmore the lead. Two batters earlier, Zachary Leiderman delivered a pinch-hit two-run single through the right side with the bases loaded. The bases were loaded again for Melillo's big hit when another pinch hitter, Cameron Pedemonti, walked.   
• Melillo scored to make it 8-6 on a Trey Bourque infield single.
• Skidmore opened the scoring in the third when Bourque singled up the middle to score Melillo from second.
• Vassar erupted for six runs in the fifth, highlighted by a Reid Lapekas three-run double and a Andrew Kanellis two-run single. The entire rally came with two outs.
• All of the runs were charged to Skidmore starter Quinn Hocom, who had been cruising until that point. He allowed just one hit over his first four innings of work. Aaron Kats got the final out of the inning before Skidmore came back with seven runs in the sixth to earn the win in relief.
• Justin Posnik pitched around a pair of singles in the sixth and a one-out walk in the seventh to earn the six-out save.

 
GAME 2 – Skidmore 13, Vassar 11

• Skidmore did its damage with five runs in the second inning and seven in the sixth.  
• In the second, Jackson Hornung hit a two-run single to cap the answer inning after Vassar scored three in the first. Eddie Galvao also hit an RBI hit in the inning, and two runs scored on a throwing error.
• Vassar tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the second.
• Both teams tossed zeros on the board over the next three innings, leading to Skidmore's seven-spot in the sixth.
• Galvao was hit by a pitch and Anthony Mollica walked, both with the bases loaded, to score two runs. Then, Melillo hit his second base-clearing triple of the day to give the Thoroughbreds a 10-5 lead. Bourque and Max Mello drove in the final two runs in the frame.
• Vassar plated two in the sixth and three in the seventh, sandwiched by a Galvao sacrifice fly, making it 13-10.
• The Brewers put the tying run in scoring position with one already in and just one out in the bottom of the ninth. Grayden Harris narrowly wiggled out of the jam for Skidmore with a strikeout for the second out and a lineout to left field to end it. It was his first career save.

 
NEXT UP: Skidmore will host five games next week, starting with a Wednesday non-league contest against Williams.